


Avenge the Fallen (Book 2/3)

by TAngel96



Series: The Echo Collection [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Betrayal, Cliffhangers, F/M, Feels, Friendship/Love, Mutant Powers, Mutants, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 23:23:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 49,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10559444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TAngel96/pseuds/TAngel96
Summary: Boom.The city of Chicago went up in flames, consumed by the nuclear bomb particles floating in the sky. It was gone in a matter of seconds. Obliterated. The screams silenced and all that could be heard was the explosion as it swept the land.The Avengers were tired. Bleeding. Lost. Torn to shreds inside with guilt. I didn't really take time to appreciate everything I had until it was gone. Now, we were on the run with nothing but each other. The government blamed us as a cover, but we carried the guilt. Not them. We tried to save the city and failed miserably. Who were the people really going to believe, though? The government who supported them through everything, or the Avengers with an old nuclear arms dealer on their team?It didn't matter anymore. We had to clear our names before Loki got out of hand. The worst part? He's gathered a team. The best part? We have something he doesn't.Determination to avenge the fallen.





	1. Chapter 1

Pain.

Rain clinked against the walls and windows of the abandoned building as it came down from the sky. Thunder roared right above us, accompanied by a small lightning show. The storms of mid-September had been brutal, and being on the run only made it worse.

Suffering.

The small room held all seven of us. The doors creaked underneath the old couches we pushed against them. The windows threatened to shatter against the hard rain, but kept intact for the time being. Mold covered the wall in places and the yellow wallpaper flaked onto the cold, wooden floor. One little lantern lit the room and cast shadows in every direction.

_Guilt._

We lost interest in the game we were playing. Nobody seemed to be enjoying it or thought it distracted them. Truth was, it was only meant to keep us together and talk for once. Since the president put out a warrant for our arrests, we fled the tower and went on the run. The government had no right to put the blame on us. We weren't going to pay for their mistake. The team already carried the guilt.

Clint and Natasha huddled together in the corner. They whispered to one another and kept each other's attention. Nat always seemed distant, her emerald eyes wandering around the room, lost in thought. Barton ran his hand up and down her leg to make her remember where she was, hoping she would maintain a conversation with him. He tried to make her laugh and be happy, but there was no use. He felt like shit, but he wanted to make her smile before he would help himself.

Hell, he looked like shit. We all did. Clint went dumpster diving for some old computer parts to give to Peter, Tony, and Bruce to make something. He ended up finding a new watch and some unopened expired food. Out of all our complaints against it, he still ate it. His short brown hair was unkept and his dark clothes were covered in stains. Natasha tried to maintain her medium length red hair and kept it clean. Her gray hoodie and jeans were the exact opposite.

Peter laid down in front of Tony and Bruce. He rubbed his hands together and blew his breath into them to keep warm. He insisted I didn't light a fire because it would smoke us all out or draw attention to the building. His green shirt ripped on the side from getting stuck on a tree branch earlier and his tan shorts helped him stay comfortable, but definitely not warm. Peter added comments here and there to Tony and Bruce's conversation.

Banner bounced ideas off of Tony. The talk of new inventions and different sciences got his blood pumping and a small spark glistened in his eye. Banner's clothes were the murkiest of them all. I couldn't tell if the color of his shirt was blue or purple. Same went with his pants, which was a tragedy, since they used to be white. His wavy brown hair started to gray because of all the stress the Hulk put on him. We always gave him extra food and leftovers in an attempt to satisfy the big guy. We did anything we could to help. Bags were visible under his brown eyes through his glasses. He surprisingly hadn't broken them yet, unlike some people…Peter accidentally dropped his glasses a few weeks ago and crushed them as we were sneaking around some trees.

Tony wrinkled his forehead in frustration and glanced down at his hands. His brown eyes traced the outline of his whitewashed jeans, his red shirt, and up to his hands, which were shaking nervously. He shook them out and whispered, "You know, I would give anything to see Pepper right now."

I wrapped my arms around myself and leaned against the wall next to Steve. My hands heated up from my powers to keep me warm. The dark jeans I had on were smeared with dirt and ripped on one knee. My camouflage shirt blended in with the grime attached to it, but it itched against my skin. We hadn't been able to get new clothes in about a week. My long, brown curly hair hung in a ponytail to keep it out of my face. I licked my lips before quietly talking to Steve, "You trust me to have your back…right?"

Steve stopped playing with his hands and glanced over at me. His blazingly blue eyes searched my features for confirmation if I had really just asked that. He stretched his legs out in his blue jeans and his muscles tensed up underneath his navy blue shirt. Rogers' voice scratched against his throat at first until he cleared it, "Of course." He grabbed my hand gently and locked our fingers together. His eyes flickered over to Barton and Romanoff before speaking again. "Nat asked me that a long time ago."

His voice trailed off as he thought of what to say. "She once told me that 'To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved'. Now look at her. She holds onto Clint's words every time he says he loves her. It takes her forever to trust someone. That's good in this kind of business, but sometimes, you just need to trust someone. Love can be fake. But, he's clearly head over heels for her." Steve glanced down at our hands. "I think to be truly loved by someone else is the greatest compliment. Anyone can have your trust. There's only a few people that will ever truly love you."

A small grin made its way onto my lips and my hazel eyes glimpsed into his. "When did you get so sappy?"

Steve snorted and let a short silence kick in. "I've had a lot of time to think."

All of us had time to think. That's all we ever had time for. Sometimes, I'd lie awake at night with Peter and watch out for police or agents of any kind. I'd sit there and think about that horrible day. The nuclear bomb detonating. The mushroom cloud. How people would have been terrified in their last moments because they were about to be wiped from existence. No trace of them would even be left.

The guilt hurt the most. All those deaths…it was all out of the Avengers' hands. All because of the United States government. They didn't have faith or trust. We would have handled it. It might have been a while, but we would have gotten it. Now, the government has the scepter. They took it after they raided the tower. God knows what they're going to do with it…

"I can't believe we haven't seen Amelia in months. I loved having her around," Steve admitted to me and squeezed my hand. "She always made these cute sounds when she wandered around the tower. God, and her laugh…It's so shrill, but so adorable."

Amelia…Jeez, I missed her so much. Peter and I begged Aunt May to take her in and gave her ten thousand dollars out of Tony's account to help. I didn't want to put Amelia in harms way, and Aunt May loved the idea instantly. She adored children, especially when I said I was planning on adopting her. After all that happened, I owed Amelia that much. I promised to protect her, and I was adamant on keeping it. My lips twitched to hold back the sadness from my voice, "Yeah. It's been so long…So long."

Steve flinched and looked away. His expression hardened as his jaw locked in place. His fingers lifted from mine slightly, but quickly rested again. I found it quite peculiar.

The window caved in, glass spewing everywhere. We covered ourselves and shielded each other in the process. Rain pitter pattered against the ground, thunder clapping in the background. "Shit!" Natasha shrieked in panic and clawed at Clint's arms to get a grip. A grappling hook had clasped onto her leg like a leech and dragged her to the broken window. Glass pinched her arms and cut her up as if they were blades of a blender.

"Nat!" Barton yelled. Natasha slipped from his grasp and scratched at the floor. Peter dove and caught her, using his free hand to take hold of the ground with his powers. Adamantium claws jetted out of my knuckles, allowing me to slice the rope on the grappling hook. Natasha pried her leg free and backed away from the window.

All of us booked it and headed towards the escape route. It took the Government a while to find us, which seemed to be in our favor. If they were getting slower, they would eventually stop searching, even if there were warrants out for out arrests. Right? Tony knocked over the wood in the corner, revealing a hidden hatch leading to an underground tunnel. Whoever owned this house long ago in the middle of the woods must have been a criminal or something. An escape hatch? That's something pretty rare. I hopped in and looked up, waiting for Banner to jump. He was the last one.

I reached my arms out, ready to help him just in case. When he hesitated, I whispered, "Bruce, what are you doing? Come on! We need to leave! The rest of the group is waiting at the end!"

Banner glanced down at me and began to close the hatch. "I'm tired of running. I don't…I don't want to hurt anybody if the big guy comes out." His brown eyes reflected what he felt. Exhausted. Remorseful. Fed up. He wanted out of this.

Before I could say anything, the hatch closed. I heard agents breaking in through the door and the broken window, yelling at Banner to turn around with his hands up. I didn't want to leave him, but there was really nothing I could do about it. I caught up with the others at the end and closed the wooden hatch behind me. I froze it over to make sure it would take a while for them to break through, if they decided to go through the tunnel.

Tony scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "Where's Banner?"

"He stayed behind. Didn't want the Hulk to get involved and hurt anyone." I watched everyone's reactions, but they were all blank slates. The information was understandable, considering he was looking out for innocent lives. Everyone just had to process it and accept it before they could show emotion.

Steve walked ahead and led the group. "Let's go then."

"To where?" Clint asked quietly. He helped Natasha walk for a moment until she got her bearings.

Peter scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Anywhere but here."


	2. Chapter 2

Rogers dropped some wood into the campfire pit inside of the dirt hole we dug out. I wiggled my fingers against each other, creating sparks and fire spawned in the center of my palm. The heat licked my skin and waved from side-to-side.

By now, using my powers seemed better against my self-esteem. I wasn't afraid of what I could do anymore. That was in the past. I was more intrigued of what the alternate future contained and how horrible it must have been. More intrigued by the mere thought of the sentinels, their power, what they stood for. I was just like them. The ability to…mimic powers.

Who I was…that was a different story. My past doesn't define who I am. It doesn't set my future in stone. My past just gives me a starting point on who I am going to be. Whatever wrongs I've committed, I could turn around and do twice as much good to help right it. The pain from my parents dying…that was a piece of myself I left a long time ago. Holding onto it did nothing to benefit me. Cutting ties to ends that only weighed me down only made me stronger. Our lives were already difficult enough; I couldn't let my team drown with me in my sorrows. What happened in Chicago…that was sorrow enough for all of us.

I've seen what the public thought of me. Since I was known as a wanted 'villain', they were afraid. Even named me 'Echo' for my superhero name…Or I mean super 'villain' name. Doesn't sound evil, though. Echoing the powers of other mutants was a frightening deal for them, but I got tired of trying to say I wouldn't use it against any of the innocents. None of them listened, anyway. I set the wood pile on fire and waited until it sprung to life. The flame in my hand flickered out. I wiped my heated hands against my pants and tried to cool off.

Crickets chirped in the soft grass as the birds slept in the trees. Leaves rustled in the wind and the smell of dirt and must hung in the air. The stars in the sky stopped shining, but the moon made up for their absence. It had been a few days since Banner's capture, leaving an unsettling feeling hanging in the air. The group remained quiet and sat around the fire. Natasha put her hands towards it and rubbed them together. Peter ran his fingers through his hair, tangling it all together. I bumped into him on purpose in an attempt to make him smile. It worked, but he pushed me over and started a fight. Steve broke it up while Tony commented on how he always ruined the fun.

Clint scratched the inside of his ear where his hearing aid had been. He took it out and turned it off earlier to conserve power. He waved his hands at us to catch our attention and started using sign language. He moved his hands back and forth and flexed his fingers. _Any ideas on what to do next?_

Over the course of our disappearance from the public, Barton taught all of us sign language. There were still times where we couldn't say the right word or forgot how to, but things like that needed more time. Being on the run for five months took a big toll on us, but there was no way we could go outside the country. We all agreed not to. We had to prove our innocence, and the only way to do that was to stay until we could convince the public. We just had to figure out some way to tell the people…

Tony watched his hand motions as he signed. He struggled a few times, but got the hang of it. _There must be a safe house somewhere near here._

 _No._ Nat cut in, her actions showing frustration. _When we put all the files onto the internet, we put all our information out there. Safe houses, history, secrets, everything._

Clint groaned and watched his hands shake for a second. He missed having coffee so much that he was going through withdrawals. He crinkled his nose, which moved the band-aid on it. _We'd be lucky to even find one the government doesn't know about._

Peter joined in. _Well. We're in Nebraska right now. Isn't there a log cabin that's abandoned or something?_

 _I doubt it. We could probably make our own cabin and probably be done faster than it would have taken to search for a new one._ Tony waved it off and almost rolled his eyes. His sarcasm bled through to his sign language, if that was even possible.

Steve considered Tony's fake idea and furrowed his eyebrow. He moved his hands slow enough to make sure he was saying things right. _We have two tents we could use until then. It seems like a good plan. Right?_

I shook my head. These guys were crazy. Did they know what they were saying? Has madness finally taken over? _Guys. Making a cabin? That's going to take more materials than we need._

 _I think you mean 'have'._ Clint corrected me, showing me the right thing to sign. He bent his fingers inwards leading to his palm and moved his hands back to touch his chest.

I went to say thank you, but Peter held his hand out. He listened intently to our environment, searching for something. I put out the fire and froze in place like the rest of the group. Peter put his hand on my arm and tightened his grasp. Something was wrong. He could feel it.

A small red laser slowly make its way through the grass and onto my leg. Peter's fingers dug into my skin as he watched the dot follow my leg up to my hip. He twitched like he wanted to make a break for it, but didn't actually move. I heard a small clicking sound, notifying everyone that Clint turned his hearing aid back on and got ready. The red laser disappeared, but we all still held our breaths.

A small canister flopped into the center of our tiny circle.

"Move!" Steve whispered loudly and ran in one direction. It was dark without the fire and all of us bumped into each other. Peter still held onto my arm and dragged me along as he followed Cap. He ran faster than I did, and after slamming into trees on accident, I became even slower. Natasha and Clint tried to help me, but became distracted when more canisters went off nearby.

A haze of dark smoke traveled through the air, flooding the woods and thickening the air. Tony got caught in the middle of it and began to cough. His breathing quickly became labored, causing him to stop. "Go on, I'll take these guys," Tony coughed.

Before we could go back for him, he was already fighting some agents. Steve almost turned around until Peter urged him to go forward.

Tony's voice could be heard in the distance, along with other cries of pain from the agents. "Ha! Got your handcuffs." Electronic weapons sounded off and Tony yelled, "Hey! Watch where you're putting your hands, Handsy!"

For a few minutes as we escaped, I thought about what Tony did. With him being caught in the smoke, he probably thought he'd only slow us down. We could have helped him if he hadn't stopped. He made his decision. We could get him out. We _had_ to.

 

"Of course we had to get spotted. You had to fight that manager," Steve remarked in a low tone. He focused on running at our speed instead of his own. We sprinted through the streets of a small town and dodged away from being shot by the police.

Peter threw his arms back and forth, using all his muscle and adrenaline to run. He put his hands up in defense for a few seconds. "That was a rip off! Those prices were worse than the ones in New York!"

"It's only because he recognized us. We're kind of wanted by the whole United States Government you know." I rolled my eyes and followed close behind Natasha and Clint. Our surroundings were a blur. The sun shined brightly in the sky without a cloud in sight. The humidity only made it worse.

"Less talking, more running!" Nat ordered and guided us through a back alley.

We all replied in unison, "Yes, ma'am!"

Clint waved his hand at Natasha and motioned her to follow him. Clint turned his hearing aid off a while back. He was running really low on power, but didn't have time to replace the battery. He led us back into the trees of the forest and tried his best to keep us out of sight. Would have worked too…

Peter yelled as a car revved up behind him and crashed into one of the trees. "Guys, I think we have a problem still!" He used some webbing to block the path we came from and continued to keep pace with the group. He threw off the jacket he had on and uncovered the web shooters attached to his wrists.

I tapped on Steve's arm and he nodded, picking me up without a problem with one arm. I faced the trail behind us and yanked the engine right out of the car using my powers. My hands moved with ease and ripped the car part into tiny pieces. Peter high fived me.

A car bum rushed us in the front, causing Nat and Clint to make a sharp turn to the left. Nat held Clint's hand so she could yank him to safety if need be. Peter slid as he followed in the turn and got to his feet quickly. Steve pulled me to his chest, completely turning me around in the process. "Steve, what are you doing?" I questioned, irritated.

"This route is narrow. I don't need you knocking into any trees," he stated sternly and gave me a quick side glance. He appeared concentrated, his hard blue eyes focusing on the nature in front of him. He hopped over a tree that had fallen and continued.

"I need to see behind us…" I rustled around in his arms, trying to get a view over his shoulder. He held onto me tightly and pulled me down as he ducked under a branch.

"You can't right now. Focus on moving forward, not looking back."

I groaned, trying to fight his tight hold. "You're carrying me. I can help…" I stopped as I managed to peek over his shoulder. _Peter…_

Peter threw webbing between some trees, setting up a trap. He added layer after layer, making sure nothing could come through. A car charged at him, but hit the webbing and got pulled back. The driver revved the engine and pushed on the pedal. Peter's weapons, or as he liked to call them, _web_ pons, ran out of synthetic webbing and shorted out. He threw them off his wrists and to the side, knowing they were useless to him now. The car broke through the barricade after using a lot of force and headed right towards him.

"Crap!" Spiderman yelled and sprinted in our direction.

I hit Steve in the shoulder and attempted to get on my own two feet. "Steve, let me go! I need to help Peter!"

Rogers turned around for a split second, watching as Peter got tackled by some agents in heavy armored uniforms. Others had their guns pointed at him and made sure he didn't retaliate. Steve kept pace with Nat and Clint. "As much as I hate to say this, Lilly, they've got him. You can't help him."

I wanted to yell, scream, hit someone, tear something apart, anything. The plan was to get whoever got caught out of jail, but our numbers were only growing smaller. He was supposed to be there to help. He was supposed to be there to comfort me at night…I was supposed to be there for him. He stayed up with me during the nights I couldn't sleep. He'd tell me stories of the little things he'd do for Gwen, or the bonding time he had with Aunt May. He told me about Uncle Ben and how great he was. I comforted him when Peter became upset or had a nightmare. We were there for each other.

And now he was captured.

Natasha, Steve, Clint, and I storming a government jail to retrieve the others? Seemed unlikely. The jail must have the best of the best protection. Of course, I could be wrong. The government _could_ underestimate us and what we were capable of. The only thing to do was hope for the best.

Clint took position in the back with me after Steve set me on my feet. He saw the look on my face, instantly knowing what I was thinking. "Lil, it's a bad idea to go back," Clint said soothingly. He turned his hearing aid back on and became fully aware of his surroundings.

"Yeah, well, aren't we all full of bad ideas?" I asked.

"You have a point there," he agreed and cracked his knuckles. He stretched his arms out in order to pump himself up.

A car pushed through some bushes and drove straight towards us. I panicked and threw my hands out, creating a blue portal. The car rushed into it and came out the other end, which I placed in the middle of the air. It fell over thirty feet to the ground; all four tires popped, leaving the agents stranded.

"Quick thinking, Parker," Steve commented as his fist came into contact with an agent's nose.

The agents slowly started to surround us and get the upper hand. Clint pulled out a small item from his pocket and unfolded it, making a medium sized usable bow. He arched his arms over his head and released the arrow he had grabbed from the quiver hanging on his back. The government agents behind us cried out in frustration and panic, stalling them long enough to let us lose the majority of them. A giant smile plastered to Barton's face out of sheer pride in his work as he spoke up, "Net arrow. Handy in situations like this."

An arrow that released a net? Getting pretty fancy, Barton.

"You know, Clint, I appreciate your ridiculous arrows right now," Natasha admitted to him in slight appreciation. She saw two guys come up on her side and kicked one into a tree. She head-butted the other one and sent him to the floor unconscious.

Steve uppercut someone in the jaw and knocked others over with his shield. One knockout, two knockouts, three knockouts, four. The list kept running on and on, but we were sure not to kill anyone. We didn't want to be wanted for actual murder that was our fault. Clint took hold of someone and launched them into another agent. He stuck his foot out and ducked to avoid a punch, allowing the girl to miss and trip over his foot when she went too far. She fell into another person and both crashed onto the ground. I grabbed a hold of one's gun and used it to hit them in the temple. The gun shot off by accident, and I realized it didn't contain real bullets, but was a stun gun. I quickly took it out of the person's grasp and used it on three others, sending them into a short, nap-like state. More agents trailed behind us.

"Look away, guys! It's about to get bright," Hawkeye called out to us and threw an arrow to the ground. We stayed on track and pushed forward. A white light beamed from the arrow and a sharp noise sounded off, ringing in our ears. The group of agents behind us became disoriented and stopped in their tracks, unable to see anything. "Flashbang arrow. Pretty sweet, am I right?"

I almost let out a chuckle, "That's got to be one of the most useful arrows you have right now. I mean a boomerang arrow? Really?"

He nudged my arm and nearly pushed me into a tree. "Hey, it comes back to you. It's super effective and allows me to reuse it." Steve hushed both of us. In order to lose the agents, we needed to go into stealth mode. Daylight wasn't going to help us this time.


	3. Chapter 3

It only took us three days to reach the desert by car. Steve hotwired it, and after half an hour of arguing, he was still adamant on returning it to its rightful owner. He wrote the address the people lived in on a piece of paper, saying thanks for letting us borrow it, and left it in a gas station parking lot in the middle of the night. Nat shook her head and continued on from there. Clint had spotted an old house, so we broke in the boarded up door and claimed it as safety for the night. Steve and Natasha slumped down into a corner of the living room. Without air circulation, the house was hotter than the atmosphere outside.

I complained to myself internally for five minutes before I realized that I could make our situation a little better. My hands twitched as I focused on my powers. My fingers slowly turned into blue ice and released cold air into the room.

Nat ruffled her hair and laid her head on my lap. She purred quietly, "You are the best. Do you know that?" She stretched out on the floor, taking up all the space in the middle of the group.

"You won't let me forget," I remarked and moved my hands around, trying to spread the coolness to the guys as well. Steve appeared bothered, but Clint was happy enough to come closer and make my hand hover over his sweaty hair. Barton and Romanoff…strange. I didn't even know something very important about the people I called friends. "What are your stories? Like…" I paused, contemplating on how to word it. "How did your guys' stories start? How did you become who you are today?"

Natasha winced and looked away, a blank expression taking over her features. Barton noticed and set his hand on her arm. Her reaction gave him a reason to respond first. "I'll, uh, I'll go first then. My…" Clint knit his eyebrows together for a split second, recalling the memories flooding into his mind. "Harold Barton was a tough son of a bitch. He drank and beat my brother and I countless times. And one day, his alcohol addiction went too far. He got into an accident while my mother was in the car, killing them both."

"I didn't know you had a brother," Steve spoke up softly, joining in on the conversation. His eyes were full of pain as he listened to more of the story.

Clint nodded. "Bernard. His name was Bernard…We were put into countless foster homes. One day, we just got tired of it and ran away. We were just kids; we didn't know what to do or how to get food. We saw the Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders was in town and decided to join it."

"You?" I snorted, "Clint Barton joined the carnival, and I'm just hearing about this now?"

He pushed my arm playfully. He could sense the dozens of jokes clouding my mind, just waiting to come out. "Yes, now will you shhh? I'm telling a story here," he hushed me and continued.

"I was trained by two guys that went by the names _Swordsman_ and _Trickshot._ I was entering the tent to retrieve something for the event and I caught the Swordsman stealing from the money stash. He offered to give me some of the pay if I became his partner. We got into a heated argument. Worse came to worse and I fell off of the high wire. He left me there to die…I told Bernard about what had happened, and he had the audacity to yell at me for not taking the deal. He abandoned me too…"

Clint seemed to be lost in his memories now, his eyes wandering about as if the events were unfolding right in front of him. "Trickshot took me under his wing and convinced me to go after this criminal named Marko. I went and nearly killed one of his guards." He sighed and waited a second. He flexed his fingers and resisted from getting angry. He closed his eyes as he spoke with whole hearted pain in his voice, "It was my brother. I severely wounded my own brother…the one that taught me self-defense…the one that was there for me when we were little…"

All of us sat in stunned silence. Natasha set her hand on his and ran her index finger in a circle against his skin. She knew the story already. I bet the first time she heard it, she had the same reaction we were having. I was speechless. Steve's features morphed into a grim look.

Barton opened his eyes to look at Nat and continued, "Then S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited me. Saw my knack for archery and thought 'Hey, this guy's pretty cool'."

"That is not what they thought." Natasha rolled her eyes.

Barton shrugged. "A guy can dream, Nat."

Half of me yearned to know what Nat had gone through, but the other half of me was frightened to ask. After hearing Barton's story, I was afraid hers would be two times worse. If I didn't know what to say to Clint, then how would I respond to her?

Steve draped his arms over his knees, his legs bunched up against his chest. His face seemed pale against the moonlight shining in through the window and his sparkling blue eyes were dull. All of this sadness must have done a number on him by now. He had taken enough already in the past year. Finding out his best friend was alive, nearly dying at the Winter Soldier's hands, Peggy dying, the bomb going off, it might have been too much on him. "Nat, it's your turn."

"Why can't you go?" She whined and flopped onto her side, facing him.

Steve shook his head. "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn. You guys know my story. I don't really know yours, even after all this time we've known each other. Out of the team, the only backgrounds I know are Tony's, Peter's, and Lilly's."

"I don't know if you guys want t-"

Barton quickly interjected, "Nat, you can trust them. No one is judging. They're just listening."

Natasha's muscles relaxed from their tense state as she leaned against me, her head laying on my chest. Her free hand traced the wood along the floor as if her fingers were skaters in a rink. It was a nervous habit of hers she only did a few times since I've been with the group. Her past must have really bothered her because Natasha hardly showed nervousness.

"I grew up in a rough time. My parents died in a fire and I was saved by a Soviet soldier that raised me as if I were his own. The Soviets wanted me to grow up as a master assassin, but I was saved. Wolverine trained me for a bit so I could learn to defend myself while I pursued the dream of becoming a ballerina. I fell in love with a pilot named Alexi Shostakov later in life and married him." She smirked at the name slyly, but as the next few words came out of her mouth, it disappeared. "He was away on a mission and he tragically died in an experimental rocket. I was so distraught that I…had a miscarriage."

God, why did I have to ask about their pasts? I didn’t think it would be this tragic.

Natasha continued, her voice completely shutting down from emotion, "After I got myself together, I enlisted to be an intelligence operative in their memory. The Soviets put me in the Red Room. The Winter Soldier trained me." She glanced away from the memory. "I was lost for a while. Following orders as the Black Widow. Killing people. Saving others. Clint finally opened my eyes when he was sent to kill me and made a different call."

Clint nodded in agreement slowly and added, "A lot happened in Budapest. I'd rather not talk about it."

I opened my mouth to ask about what happened in Budapest and stopped when I heard voices outside. All four of us became quiet instantaneously and listened. Steve and Clint stayed low and made their way to the door slowly.

"Look, dude, I don't know why they sent us here. This house is a complete disaster. No one would be hiding inside," one man commented.

A woman spoke up with an unamused tone, " _They_ could be inside. It's not like they have any other choice than dumps like this."

"Well, it was just a thought," the man gave up. The door handle twisted and the door opened.

The agents walked through the door, but didn't get far. Steve and Clint grabbed each one from behind and cupped a hand over their mouth and nose. They waited for them to pass out before gently setting them on the ground. Steve gestured us to follow, so we did quietly.

There were few trees by the house, mainly to shade it during the day from the scorching rays of the sun. The rest of the land contained dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Cacti covered the grounds and ranged in different sizes. It was like a minefield out there. Throw the heat from the sun into the mixture, and it created a deadly mixture of hell on earth.

Clint fell back to help Natasha, pushing me up front with Steve. I turned around for a few seconds. _How do we expect to hide out here?_ I signed, putting emphasize on the word 'hide'. My eyes widened before he could answer, staring at the person behind them.

Barton glanced back, saw the young agent holding a gun pointed at us, and got in front of Natasha. The man fired, sending a dart flying through the air. I tried to push it away with my powers, thinking it was partially made of metal.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

It pierced right into Clint's neck. This all happened in a matter of seconds, so I was sure Steve and Natasha had no clue what had happened until it was over. Barton collapsed onto the ground unconscious. The kid ran to tell the rest of the group where we were.

"Clint!" Natasha kneeled down and examined the dart. She contemplated and her green eyes scanned the area. Her face cringed in slight pain as she heard voices rising from around the corner of the house, growing louder each second. Her fingers grazed Clint's arm before she stood up to face us. "Go."

"What are you talking about, Tasha?" I questioned.

Steve almost tugged her arm and stated, "We aren't leaving you here."

"You're leaving me. Go," she ordered and glanced back towards Clint. "I'll observe the facility and find a way to get everyone out of there. Clint needs someone to talk to on the way there, anyways. Might as well make both of our trips enjoyable." She stepped passed his body and cracked her knuckles, getting ready for a fight.

Rogers moved his mouth to say something, but I stopped him. There wasn't a point in arguing, and clearly, not enough time to do so. This is what Nat really wanted, otherwise she'd still be looking at us. We weren't going to change her mind. "Come on, Steve. She has a phone with her. We can track it until she gets to the facility, find a way in, and break all of them out." Steve reluctantly drew back and followed me into portal after portal, hopping from one point in the desert to the next like leap frog.

Natasha climbed the tree with the most leaves and perched there, waiting. The agents really did take their sweet time gathering their group together. Natasha thought that she could have just dragged Clint with them as they escaped, but her decision was already made. Lilly and Steve were already gone. There was no turning back now.

The government agents came into view. She recognized some with S.H.I.E.L.D. armor on, which meant Coulson had given into the government's commands. No point in fighting over something like this. Nat was sure that Coulson did it to better the company and not put it in jeopardy. With Hydra still out there, the agency was needed.

She jumped down from the tree and landed on one of the guys. Soldiers yelled and all attacked her at once. She collided her fist into one's jaw and threw him over her shoulder. He landed on other agents, taking them all down. Nat kicked a man in the shin and a woman in the stomach. Her elbow dealt a blow to an agent's shoulder blade, the pain searing through their shoulder so bad, they passed out.

About four more soldiers to go, but reinforcements were down the street.

Black Widow stole the dart gun from an agent's hands and used it on him, taking him down the easiest way possible. Someone grabbed her hair, so she took hold of the soldier's wrist and twisted it. He cried out in pain and let go, allowing her to jump onto his shoulders and put him into a choke hold using her thighs. He reached down for the taser on his belt and attempted to use it on her, but she took hold of it and wrestled around. She couldn't get it out of his grasp, so she did something simple.

Natasha aimed the weapon at another soldier and pushed the trigger. The woman squirmed and reached upwards to grab a hold of it to take it off, but twitched and collapsed. The agent she was on let go of the taser and pushed Nat up against a tree. She grunted and flipped him over, sending them flying in a backwards flip. He hit the ground unconscious. Tasha got up triumphantly and exhaled quickly. She worked out a sweat there, but the adrenaline rushing through her veins made her feel three times better.

The last agent sat on the floor, shaking and scrambling to get to his feet. The fear of God settled in his wide eyes, terrified of what she was going to do to him. "I give up!" He put his hands up, indicating he wasn't holding any weapons.

Natasha nearly laughed. He was so frightened, like a puppy meeting a bigger, more ferocious dog. She walked over to him, put a hand on his neck, and found a pressure point. She waited until he crumpled onto the ground and strolled over to where she heard a group of agents forming in front of the house. They all stared at her, some with determination and others with fear in their eyes. She cracked her neck and glanced around, a sly smile forming on her lips. "Who's next?"


	4. Chapter 4

Bright sunlight cascaded over the tall hotels of the Las Vegas strip, reflecting off of windows and bouncing off of light colored materials. Palm trees, crowds of people on the sidewalks, cars everywhere, it was just like I imagined it. Almost as busy as New York, but with a little more flash of a unique town. A hot wind swept through my hair as Steve pushed on the gas on the motorcycle we had 'borrowed'. His shield latched onto the front of the bike as he drove, determination and focus written all over his face. "Of course they found us. They always do."

I turned around, one hand latched around Steve's stomach, and the other aimed at one of the cop cars behind us. I froze the front of it and watched as the engine failed. I flattened my hand and stopped the car from hitting anything else. "Well, you do have a one-of-a-kind shield. Big giveaway if you ask me."

"Well, we need it."

" _Well,_ if you would have hid it better, nobody would have called the police," I stressed and threw fire out of my hands. People screamed nearby and caught some of the high speed chase as we sped by.

"You know what, Parker?" Steve sassed, keeping his blue eyes on the road. He swerved to avoid hitting some pedestrians on the crosswalk and ran the red light. It seemed like all of the cars were jammed up at red lights to make way for the chase.

A bullet grazed my leg and I gasped from shock. I bared my teeth to keep down any screams of pain and exhaled, "What, Rogers?"

"Maybe if you wouldn't have hacked into Nat's phone, they wouldn't have known where we were."

"I didn't think they'd find us so quickly. It's not like they're patrolling every state, right?" I glanced down at my wound and found that the bullet only flew by and not into my leg. I sighed in relief as it began to heal slowly and focused on the cars behind us.

Steve dodged some random cars passing by as the lights turned green and grunted as he avoided hitting a random pedestrian. Sweat dripped down his temple, his sweaty hands curved around the handles. He took a sharp turn to the right, but a police car came up from behind and sent both of us flying. Steve rolled onto the street, grasping his shield in his hand. I smacked into a car windshield and bounced off into the street. I groaned and tried to shake it off, but my head was pounding with an intense pain. The car honked and people began stepping out of their cars to see the event happening in front of them.

I picked myself up and followed Steve down the street. A news helicopter swooned overhead, capturing every second on video. Guns sounded off and bullets zipped passed us as we ducked behind cars. I tried to stop the bullets from hitting anyone, but nothing happened. Innocent people began screaming as they were shot or others around them collapsed. Steve tugged my arm and led me through the crowded sidewalk.

I glanced back at the police chasing us, and saw plastic guns in their hands. _Plastic guns, plastic bullets…I guess 3D printers are my enemy._ I contemplated and tried to freeze the ground. The police slipped and tumbled over, but others just jumped over it.

"Get out of the way!" Steve and I yelled simultaneously, warning people from getting hurt. Most followed what we said, but some pulled out their cell phones and started recording the scene.

The SWAT team and other governmental officers pulled up at the end of the street, blocking us in. I pulled Steve into an alley and headed into The Venetian casino and hotel through the back way. We nearly crashed into all the chefs in the kitchen and quickly got out of there and into the back stairwell. Steve went up first, going up the steps faster than I ever could.

He poked his head out of the door leading to one of the higher floors hotel rooms. He motioned for me to wait, but I tapped my foot impatiently. We didn't have time for this. I pushed him into the hall and walked ahead, taking control of the situation. I didn't know where we were headed, but I had an idea in mind. Voices were heard down the hall and I planted a portal in front of the door next to us.

We walked on white marble flooring into the hotel room suite. My eyes widened in pure joy and I nearly cried. I hadn't seen a bed in ages, and seeing two queen sized beds in front of me made me want to scream out in happiness. But, we couldn’t stay. A small sunken living room lay to my left with the most plush looking couches I've seen in my life. Rich colors danced around the fabrics of every material in the room colliding to create a beautiful setting. Windows lined the wall of the living room, casting a glorious view of Las Vegas.

Rogers glanced around after taking in the scenery. His face showed a slight pain and yearning for home. "Look for clothes. Maybe we could get out of here without being noticed."

I pointed at what he held in his hand. "It doesn't help that you have a big shield or anything. Or the fact that our faces and hands are dirty as hell."

"I can put it into…" Steve grabbed a hold of a black suit bag that lay on the bed and started shoving his shield inside. "I'll use this."

I rubbed my throbbing temples and tried to contain every ounce of sarcasm that I had, which was harder than I thought. The shield was definitely wider than the suit bag itself, but maybe in a one in a million chance opportunity, it would work. "This is the most ridiculous plan I've ever heard."

He sighed and gave me a bored look. "Do you have a better idea?"

 _Well…no. Not really._ I scrunched my face up in defeat. He was right. As always.

"Didn't think so," he said and turned around to go on a search for clothes. He took point at the dresser, so I headed towards the closet.

I turned the light on and stepped inside the medium sized walk in closet. New clothes hung on the hangers like business attire, dresses, suits, casual clothes, and pajamas. Whoever was staying here must have been out to a meeting or something. "Hey, I found some clothes."

"For both of us?" He asked as he walked in.

I nodded and handed him some casual clothes. "Try these on. We need to hurry up and get out of here before they start locking the building down."

"You say that to me, but you're the one that usually takes forever," Steve shot back playfully. He smirked and walked out.

I rolled my eyes and started taking clothes off of the hangers. I threw on an orange shirt over my black tank top and a blue pair of boot-cut jeans. They were two sizes or three above mine, so they were baggy. _That helps my cover…I think._ I grabbed a hair band from my wrist and twirled the top layer of my hair into a ponytail. I snatched a fedora from the rack and cleaned my glasses on my way out of the closet. Steve flexed in the shirt I had given him and scrunched his nose in dismay. I raised an eyebrow and took in the moment. "That's about the size of your running shirt."

He huffed and put his hands on his hips. "It's a bit tighter than that," he admitted. He glanced my outfit over. "At least I'm not the only one with wardrobe problems."

I put my hand over my heart and looked offended. "Steve Rogers, did you just insult this poor woman's wardrobe choices?" I rushed to the bathroom to wash my face and hands from the dirt and grime.

Steve followed me and splashed some soap and water onto his hands and face. "No. I'm not insulting her choice in fashion. I was just saying those clothes don't really fit you. My clothes don't fit me. I was simply comparing."

I gave him the hand towel and said with a small smile, "I was kidding, Steve." I put the fedora on his head and went to wait at the door. I wasn't the biggest fan of fedoras, but it looked pretty cute on him.

"It's been a _long_ time since you've joked around," Steve replied softly. He grabbed the suit bag with the shield inside and continued, "I can't wait to go back to our old lives. Arguing. Joking around. Not running from the government."

"Yeah…that sounds great," I agreed and turned around. Steve stared at me with hint of sorrow and longing, his mouth curved into a tight line. I rubbed my hand on his forearm for some comfort and ushered him out of the room.

Voices sounded off from around the corner and Steve grabbed my hand. He looked at the ground and I turned to him to hide half of my face. He chuckled lightly and engaged in a fake conversation as the agents came around the corner. A fake Brooklyn accent flew out of Steve's mouth, "I've got reservations planned for tonight. Pretty nervous about it, though."

The accent threw me off for a second, but I caught on to what he was doing. I made my voice a little lower than usual and softer, "Why are you nervous?"

The agents passed by without a second glance at us and monitored the hall. Steve continued so they wouldn't get suspicious, "I've never taken a pretty girl out and have her actually pay attention to me before."

A flash of sadness swept through me. Steve told me about the real double dates he had with Bucky a long time ago. The girl never paid attention to him and was jealous of the girl that was with Bucky. After Steve became Captain America, he didn't have time for dates, even though girls would have lined up to go out with him. That brought us here to modern day, and he had yet to have a few dates. He's not a guy who knows what love feels like. He wants it, craves it, thinks about it. He knows there's something missing, but missing something you've never really had only makes it worse. _Wait, I paid attention to him on our first date! Why am I feeling sad, then?_ "Well, you have all of my attention." I gave his hand a slight squeeze as we made it to the elevator.

We put our backs to the camera and leaned against the elevator wall. He brought me close for a second and slung his arm around my shoulder. Steve still spoke in his accent in case the agents were watching the security cameras, "I'm really glad I have you."

I wrapped my arm around his waist when the elevator doors opened. We stepped out and I kept my eyes on the ground. Maybe they wouldn't notice me from an angle. Steve kept his head slightly down, but enough to see where we were going. I could feel his abs underneath the shirt. "I'd be really glad to have me too."

He pinched my side after we made it through the front doors and into the street. I almost let out a laugh until he pinched me again and smiled. Rogers didn't feel the need to talk anymore and just admired me for a second. Something flashed across his mind and pecked at his features, making his eye twitch slightly.

A guy bumped into him and apologized. Steve didn't stumble backwards or anything, but his shield fell out of the bag. It clanked against the floor loudly and drew attention to us. The man that bumped into Steve looked down, then back up at him. He put his hand on his belt, uncovering a holstered gun and a badge.

 _Undercover agent. Smart._ I thought. Steve snatched the shield and I pushed the agent down. We sprinted off through the crowd, listening to the yelling from afar. Agent scrambled to our position and a helicopter hovered overhead. Guns fired and set the crowd into a panicked frenzy.

I shoved Steve into the casino next to us and made him follow me. I passed a lot of slot machines, old people, puffs of cigarette smoke, and waitresses in revealing outfits. Teens heading to bowling alleys walked on the sidelines and other people walked towards cafes or restaurants. Steve and I ran practically through the middle of the place, trying to stay away from as many people as possible. Agents came in left and right, eventually flanking us.

Steve threw his shield at the men. The shield bounced off of them, slot machines, and walls up until I caught it. I hit other agents with it and took out anyone that tried to attack Rogers from behind. Steve kicked a police officer into a slot machine and threw another across the way. He punched a guy in the throat, rendering him breathless. A few hits, punches, and knockouts later, we were ready to move on. More reinforcements were coming. I charged forward and headed towards one of the other entrances.

An agent came up our side, knocking an old lady out of the way to get to us. Steve grunted as he kicked him down to the ground and punched him hard. He then proceeded to help the old lady up and got her belongings together before returning back to me.

I admired him for that. His kindness, generosity, there was so much about Steve Rogers that made me want to become a better person. I held the shield against my abdomen and ran through the other entrance. Government agents littered the street, aiming all of their guns at us. Steve bumped into me, causing me to jerk forward. I snapped my fingers and felt a power leave my hand. A blue portal spawned in front of us leading to the roof of the Palazzo hotel and casino, and we hopped through quickly. It was simple enough to just hop from roof to roof using portals. It would at least give us more time to think of a better plan.

_Bang. Bang, bang, bang, bang._

Steve let out a sharp gasp and lost his footing.

The portal closed behind us and disappeared without a trace. I dove to get a grip on Steve and lifted him up. Worry took over my features as my mind took in what just happened. "Oh, God…Steve!"

He dropped his shield and it hit the roof with a loud thud. Blood poured out of the two bullet wounds in his stomach. Luckily, the bullets had gone all the way through, so no more damage could be done. Steve struggled to push the words out of his throat, but managed to do so, "Go. Leave me."

I set him down gently against the walled edge of the roof and took off my shirt, revealing a black tank-top underneath. "No, not without you," I declared sternly. I winced as my hand grazed my back and I noticed the blood staining my fingers. A bullet had lodged itself in the back of my shoulder, but didn't go all the way through. _Crap…_ I attempted to take the slug out, until it donned on me that it was made of plastic. The wound wouldn't heal for a while. At least the other two bullets didn't hit us. That was the bright side. _My number one priority is helping Steve right now._ I ripped the shirt and tied it tightly around Cap's torso, trying to make it into a tourniquet.

"Lilly, they might test on you. I can't…I can't let that happen…" He began to cough and propped himself up on the wall. His piercing blue eyes looked into mine, his short blond hair partially in his face and shining in the light. Blood trickled down his nose and slithered down onto his lips. He held a look of defeat. Agony. Fear. "Please…"

Steve's words echoed in my mind. He was really concerned about me and my safety. But there was no way I was going to leave him. I wasn't going to abandon my team at some high tech prison and try to figure things out on my own. It'd be easier to get caught on purpose to get on the inside instead of breaking in by myself. If I was going to stick with not murdering anyone, it'd be impossible. Right? My hazel eyes glimpsed away from his stare and licked my dry lips. "Our plan failed. Getting everyone out of jail? I don't know what we were thinking. Getting inside to be together, though, that seems like our only option. We can get out as a team. If five uncooperative strangers can escape a jail _in space_ , we can do this," I insisted. There was hope. There _had_ to be some somewhere in the sad world of ours.

A helicopter soared above us and stopped at the other end of the roof. Agents of all kinds slid down rope and landed on the roof, their boots clinking against the gravel. They put their plastic guns aimed at our faces, and all of them began to yell over the sounds of the spinning blades of the copter.

Steve gathered all his strength and pushed me off of the roof in an effort to keep me out of the government's hold.

I yelped and reached my hands out to grab onto something. My nails latched onto the side of the building, but gravity yanked me down, breaking my nails in the process. I fell backwards and faced the blue sky, watching as Steve's figure got smaller and smaller. I flipped around and began to hyperventilate. _Falling…I'm falling. No. Please, no._ My worst fear became reality. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. My hands shot out and placed a thick layer of ice below me, but I instantly crashed through it. The small, pale blue shards descended from the sky like a soft, but sharp rain. People began screaming and pointing from below. Some took cover and others put their hands over their mouths.

 _Need…slow down._  My thoughts started to break up into fragments as panic and fear swelled up in my chest. My heart thumped wildly and felt like it was going to give out. My eyes watered from the air and I let out a small scream. Goosebumps formed on my skin as the reality set in. The ground got closer and closer. Every second nagged at my brain. _Tick. Tock._

Blood. Blood would be everywhere. My bones would break and pierce out of my skin in the worst possible way. My skull would shatter. Everyone would post it on the internet and it would go viral. The government would cover it up by saying I jumped on my own to prevent capture, or pin it on Steve, even if he did it to protect me.

_Tick._

"Stop…stop…" I muttered to myself in short breaths. My fingers were bleeding immensely now from the broken nails, and I put my hands out to brace for impact. I wanted to be anywhere but here. Anywhere. Just not falling through the air. _Steve…launched me off roof…_

_Tock._

My hand twitched and a red portal formed below me. I threw ice down to help break my fall, even if I broke through every layer on the way down. My powers tried to help me in any way, otherwise, the way the situation unfolded would have a drastically opposite outcome.

I hit the final layer of ice that covered the same gravel roof Steve had launched me from. A broken cry escaped my lips and blood oozed out of my fractured skull. My right leg bent in another direction entirely and some of my fingers cracked and broke as I moved them. Sharp shards of ice cut deep into my skin and stuck there, almost as if I were a human crystal. I couldn't feel anything anymore. The pain, the fear, the feeling of my limbs, it was gone altogether. A sharp sound enveloped my hearing, blocking everything else that was happening around me. My vision began to black out slowly, seeing only a few seconds of real life in between pitch black darkness.

Steve looked at me, eyes wide in shock and anguish. A guard pushed him against the floor and handcuffed him. Steve cringed and shrieked at the pain of his wounds, but it seemed like the agents didn't care. His lips moved and uttered my name, but I couldn't hear it.

Then the darkness took over.


	5. Chapter 5

Jail.

A place where idealism sits and waits. A place where chivalry falls on its sword. A place where innocence dies screaming.

Thankfully, we weren't in a regular facility. Ever since the battle of New York, mutants participating more in society, and other beings becoming more noticed, the United States government started building a jail specially suited for people like us. The only bright side was the place was fairly new, so there would be a lot of loopholes to the security. After all, we were the first prisoners here. The jail was our own personal service of solitude, which I'm sure everyone hated. If it were any other situation, we probably wouldn't mind it.

The rooms were fair in size. Yellow walls, gray floor tiles, and there had to be some tough material behind the wallpaper. It had to be strong enough to hold in someone as incredible as the Hulk. There weren't any windows in the room, just a heavy door with a hole underneath big enough for a tray of food to slide under. The only furniture in the room was a bed and a toilet.

Natasha stared at the camera, tilting her head and smiling mischievously. Steve rested in his bed, still recovering from being shot. Tony tried taking the camera apart, his hands fidgeting with the wiring. The camera view from the control room showed up his left nostril and blurred out when he got closer. Bruce yanked at his hair, screaming out loud and tried to contain the Hulk. His hands turned into a light shade of green and he slammed them against the wall. Clint slept soundly on his bed, sprawled out in the most comfortable position. Peter stood on the ceiling and tapped his bare foot against it. Something on his mind bothered him, so he walked from the ceiling, to the wall, to the floor, and back up to the ceiling again. He paced in a giant circle for a while and wouldn't settle down.

I scratched at the band on my ankle. The metal anklet kept me from using my powers. I was powerless. I knew my powers could be stopped, but I didn't think government technology would be one of them. They must have had mutant volunteers to help perfect it. Whatever was in Loki's scepter also rendered my powers useless. The band shocked me and I glared at the camera in the corner of my room. I only knew it was there because I paced the room one day and found it. The agents took my glasses away from me, for they thought I would craft a weapon from it. Well, they weren't wrong. I would have. Being nearsighted was a setback in this situation. Anyone that came into the room, I couldn't see their faces unless they came a few steps closer.

Some agents said we'd have a lawyer coming. At that point, I think it was just for the public's sake to hear. There is no trial. We're just here. Otherwise, some hot shot lawyer would have stepped up to the plate.

I wasn't sure if Natasha had a plan yet. We never got to see each other and I had no clue what room she was in. We're just in our rooms at all hours of the day. The government knew we'd fight back if we weren't. They were smart.

But we're smarter.

A tapping sound came from the wall next to me.

".-- .... --- .----. ... / .. -. / - .... .. ... / .-. --- --- -- ..--.." _Who's in this room?_

Finally. Some type of communication. Morse code, my old friend. Where have you been? Guess the walls were thin enough for us to communicate. The guards outside hadn't said anything yet. I don't really think anyone is watching the cameras either. Maybe this place's security was worse than we thought. I got close to the wall and tapped my finger against it. ".-.. .. .-.. .-.. -.-- .-.-.- / .-- .... --- .----. ... / - .... .. ... ..--.." _Lilly. Who's this?_

"-. .- - .- ... .... .-" _Natasha._

Nat! Thank God! Days without communication…I thought I was going to go insane. I leaned against the wall while sitting on my bed to act like I was just being bored. ".... .- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / - .- .-.. -.- . -.. / - --- / .- -. -.-- --- -. . / . .-.. ... . ..--.. / .- .-. . / - .... . -.-- / --- -.- .- -.-- ..--.." _Have you talked to anyone else? Are they okay?_

 _Peter is doing okay. He also said that Steve is recovering a lot faster than he had thought. Clint still cracks jokes whenever we talk. Who knows about Tony. And Bruce…he is having a rough time._ Natasha became silent for a moment.

I could hear a faint screaming, most likely coming from Bruce. Shivers ran down my spine. Keeping the Hulk at bay must have had serious effects on him. I sighed and responded. _How are we going to get out of here?_

 _They have to let us out into sunlight or something, right?_ She stopped and thought for a moment. _Even if they don't, I have a plan. No problem._

I imagined her shrugging at her own words. Sometimes, she was too kick ass for her own good. I admired that. ".- -. -.-- - .. -- . / -.-- --- ..- .----. .-. . / .-. . .- -.. -.--" _Anytime you're ready._

Natasha scratched at the wall with her fingernails until she found what words to say. _No. I'll wait until tomorrow. I don't want the Hulk to start ruining our escape plan._

 _He'd probably help our escape plan because he'd break stuff._ I thought to myself. Even though I didn't want the Hulk to cause trouble, trouble is what we needed right now.

Natasha replied. _Goodnight, Lilly._

My finger hit the wall softly. "--. --- --- -.. -. .. --. .... -" _Goodnight._

I put my hands together in my lap and ran my fingers against my skin. The marks from the accident weren't there anymore, but I could still feel it. The numbness. The feeling was hard to shake off. My bones were broken, shards sticking out of my body, and yet it seemed like all of it was completely fine. Even if my powers hadn't teleported me back to the same roof Rogers launched me from, I would have died on the sidewalk. I don't know how he thought pushing me off of a building was logical, but I understand it was to protect me. Having the fear of falling didn't quite help, though. I had to face my fear head on, literally. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever been forced to do. I was helpless. I couldn’t control anything. Hope seemed to be lost.

And then my powers saved me. My powers seemed to protect me when I can't do it on my own, which was rare. I was still trying to figure out how to use the shield my powers used a long time ago, but fail every time. I was at least thankful for my powers. Thankful for all of my family and friends.

The sad thing was I didn't really appreciate everything I had until it was gone. I was cut off from talking to my family. My friends were trapped in separate rooms in jail. My powers stopped working because of the stupid anklet. All I had right now was myself. I think that finally being alone in isolation was something to be feared instead of wanted. I haven't felt useless or unneeded until now.

My thoughts rambled on now. Topics intermingled, combining into one big jumped mess. My eye twitched for a second and I dropped all of my thoughts to make room for more. I remembered Chicago. The possibilities and questions I had were endless.

If we survived, did Thor? Did Loki, or even Red Skull? If they did, they could run havoc anywhere. And we'd be stuck here in these cells. Trapped. Like the wild animals the public thought we were. Red Skull wouldn't be a problem. From what it looked like, he was fleeing the scene. A coward in charge of a whole agency who wanted to control people running away seemed pretty pathetic. Loki on the other hand, he would want to finish what he started. That guy had some serious problems, even if he did love his family. He could get a whole army with just his charms, and that was the scary part.

And if Thor survived, why hadn't he come back? Surely, he'd be worried about us.

Right?


	6. Chapter 6

Natasha hummed to herself, moved to her right, slowly bent backwards and raised her leg out at a low angle. She stretched out her left arm over her torso, arched it over her head, and back to her side. She gracefully stood upright and spun in a circle on one foot. Nat lifted her leg up high and dropped it back to the ground, moving around the room swiftly and moving her arms accordingly. Her green eyes watched how close she was to the walls and glanced at the camera from time to time. She grinned slyly and snatched something from underneath her pillow as she moved passed her bed. She spun the object around in her hands and then hid it behind her back so the security guards wouldn't know what she had.

She continued to hum and dance, feeling exhilarated that she got to do something she held so dearly to her heart. The last time she had danced was in front of James Barnes outside of the Red Room. They had some down time and he wanted to see her dance. Her heart began to ache, and she hadn't actually thought about what it meant until…

Two big, burly guards in gray uniforms entered the room, hovering their hands above their holstered guns. Natasha inspected them quickly as she twirled the object in her hand. Hats didn't sit on their heads, nor did they have badges or sharp objects of any kind on their uniforms. One man appeared older than the other, most likely an easy take down compared to the younger one.

"Looking for something, boys?" Natasha raised an eyebrow and smirked slyly. She pulled out a small piece of cloth from behind her back and unfolded it to reveal nothing.

The guards were unimpressed and began to leave.

Nat rolled her eyes and clunked their heads together. She snatched the guns from their holsters and tossed them onto her bed. She kicked the older guard into the door frame and knocked the younger one in the side of his jaw, shattering his bone. He went down without a fight. The older one put up a fight and swung at Natasha. She ducked and punched him in the gut. He took a blow to the leg and another to the face before Nat threw him down onto the ground, unconscious. She wiped her hands on her yellow jump suit, grabbed the guns, and took the keycard off of one of the guard's belts.

A loud alarm started blaring through the speakers and the lights in every room changed to red. I glanced up from my hands and raised an eyebrow. _Nat must have already put her plan into action._ I thought and headed towards the door. Everything that wasn't four feet ahead of me was a huge blur. Falling off that building and hitting my head did some real damage to my eyesight.

The door opened and revealed Peter standing there, holding his hand out to me. "Come on, we have to go." I nodded and almost ran into the hall. I was so excited to see my friends again. Over time, I started to realize that I became more dependent on them than I used to be. I was once independent after leaving my family at Xavier's School for the Gifted. Now, I've made a full U-turn. I'm hoping it's for the best.

The alarm blared through the speakers into the hall, almost deafening us when we passed by. I carefully walked with my cousin as Natasha opened the rest of the cells. Bruce lugged Steve out of there, holding one arm over his shoulder for support. Steve clutched his stomach and winced in slight pain. Tony covered Steve's other side as we all started forming a circle in the hall. Natasha and Clint took ground up front, while Peter and I were in the back. Clint turned his head frequently and always glanced around in a calm state, taking in his surroundings. They had taken his hearing aid when he was locked up, so not being able to listen in on everything had him on the alert.

"Incoming," Natasha called out. Men turned around the corner of the hall and headed straight towards us.

Clint and Nat stayed in formation as they defended the middle of the group from being hit. Nat hit one guy in the throat with her thumb, leaving him breathless. Clint kicked him into two others and knocked them down. Natasha kneed one in the jaw, splattering blood everywhere. She wrapped her arm around another's head and flipped him onto his back and smashed her foot against his chest.

"Two-o-clock, Peter," I observed, hearing a clicking sound and seeing blurs move out of a room. My hand shot out in an attempt to throw ice at them, but nothing happened. I forgot about the device on my ankle. I groaned and waited for one of them to come at me.

Peter snapped to attention and jumped around in place, getting his blood pumping in his system. "We haven't had this much excitement in a while, huh?" Peter's fist met a jaw as he jumped onto the wall. The men became confused with what he was doing and waited for a second before reacting. Peter had kicked a few in the head by then, sending them into the wall opposite of them.

I stayed back and guarded the three in the middle. I couldn't let the guards get to them. It's my job. A guard reached for his gun and I snatched it from him, firing the gun at the ground to test it.

Small darts. Not even bullets.

Should I be surprised? I twisted the man's arm and heard bones snapping. He screeched in pain as blood seeped out of his elbow where the bone protruded out of his skin. I let go of his arm and smashed my foot against his skull, light enough to render him unconscious. I shot the gun, aiming at most of the guards in our way. Some went down. Others managed to stay up a few more seconds to put up a fight. Peter slammed two guards' heads together and launched the last one into a wall as he stood on the ceiling.

I rolled my eyes. "You're such a show off." He jumped down, flipped, and managed to land on his feet safely. He cringed as he stretched his left arm and flexed it. A laugh stuck in my throat; this was not the time for that. "What? Out of shape, Parker?"

"I'm not. Might have pulled a muscle though. Hurts like hell," he replied and resumed his position in formation.

Natasha paused and nearly caused everyone to crash into her. She listened in on her surroundings. The alarm rang in our ears and the red lights flickered. No footsteps came from down the hall. "Where is everyone? More guards must have been stationed here."

A guard flew down the hall and into the wall. His body bounced off and hit the ground. All of us looked at him in a confused state. We thought we were getting ourselves out of jail on our own.

We had company.

Lady Sif from Asgard came into view as she turned the corner. Blood dripped down her temple from a small scratch and faded into her sun kissed skin. She dressed in a dark blue S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform instead of her usual shiny silver armor. She blew some of her wavy black hair out of her face and loosened her grip on her sword. Her blue eyes looked us all over quickly and she smiled softly. Her voice, strong and powerful the last time we saw her, was now calm and collected. "Oh, good. You're already out. Let us go then."

We recognized Sif instantly and sighed in relief. We could have easily gotten out on our own, but seeing a friendly face, in a time where we hadn't seen one in so long, seemed comforting. We walked towards her and my eyes finally adjusted.

A woman stood behind her. She seemed welcoming by her motions, but in her gray eyes, she was brooding. It was hard to tell in the lighting, but her skin tone was a beautiful light purple. Her black, wavy, mid-length hair barely touched her shoulders. The woman stood taller than Lady Sif and seemed really thin. She could have been an other worldly Amazon for all I knew. Golden symbols graced her cheek and trailed up to her forehead before stopping. Her expression, serious and daunting, seemed to reflect the vibe she was giving off.

We didn't question who was aiding her and followed them out. Sif would surely tell us once we were out of there. Bodies littered the ground, bloody and unmoving. Their blood splattered against the white walls like an abstract painting, blotching and running in certain spots. Some of the guards were still alive and groaning softly to themselves in agony. We stepped over them carefully as they lead us to the room where they kept our belongings.

 _They really…killed these guards? Was it Sif? Or was it the new girl? I can't see Sif being that hostile to humans after her encounters with Coulson._ I thought to myself. Something didn't seem right here. I would ask about that later.

Natasha took control of the situation once we came across the vault, locked with a special computer system attached to it. Her fingers dashed over the keys of the keyboard and watched the screen as it turned green. She smirked and glanced over at us. "Can you beat that time, Tony?"

"Under a minute? Probably not. Jarvis could, though," he shot back in slight humor and went into the vault. A few metal tables stood in the empty, white room. The bright lighting made us shield our eyes for a second until they adjusted. Tony picked up his clothes in an airtight bag and looked it over. "You think they would spend more time guarding the place than making sure our belongings were clean and nicely put away here."

Bruce leaned Steve against one of the tables. Bruce snatched his glasses from the table and took his clean clothes happily. The familiarity of it seemed to comfort him. Steve grabbed his vibranium shield and attached it to his arm. He grunted as pain struck his bullet wounds and overcame the pain by pushing forward.

I took hold of my glasses and put them on. _Sight, glorious, sight!_ It was so great to see things clearly again, even though the background was slightly blurry because my eyesight got worse. It didn't matter. I could see! Peter nudged me as he attached his web tech onto his wrist. He stretched and twisted his wrists and sighed happily once he felt secure.

"Clearly, we need a plan. And guess who has one?" Tony questioned, turning to all of us.

We all groaned in unison.

Usually when Tony had ideas, they were either too dramatic, too much work, or just too out there. Hopefully this idea wasn't in any of those categories.

"Glad to know everyone still thinks highly of me." He scoffed before continuing, "I have a place in Canada that no one knows about. You know what that means? You guys can go back to being freeloaders again."

"Oh, please. We're a joy to have around at the tower," Peter replied with energy. The adrenaline must have finally got to him.

"Isn't that defeating the purpose of staying in the country?" Steve asked carefully. All of us had discussed this months earlier. Leaving the country only proves the government was right. But, now that we broke out of jail, the public wouldn't believe us anyways. Steve's face soured as he thought this over.

Tony put his hands down to his sides and stepped towards the group. His serious facial expression seemed almost daunting on him and he spoke up, "There isn't a better plan. We need somewhere to go and fast. I have the solution."

We wanted him to be wrong.

But Tony was right.

We left the facility the way Sif and her companion entered and followed them until we came into possession of a vehicle. Then, we left on a tiring journey out of the country.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony pulled up to a dark cabin and turned the engine off. It took a week and a half, but we were finally there. Night casted its shadows upon the house and covered every inch in darkness. The moon sat behind a jail cell of clouds and the dimly lit stars stayed still. Maybe it reflected how much the Avengers weren't wanted. Weren't needed. Not even the sky would entertain us. A swift breeze chilled  the air and our breaths could be seen before he rolled up the windows. Pine trees full with life surrounded the area, shading the dead grassland.

I nudged Peter to wake him up. He mumbled for a bit before opening his heavy eyelids. Bruce gently awoke Natasha and Clint and made them get out of the car. We all piled out, except for Steve. I opened the front passenger door and noticed Tony hadn't waken him yet. I glanced down at his shirt and saw no blood stains, so that was a good sign. His stitches and gauze must have stayed together through the last part of the trip. "Steve…" I whispered and tapped my fingers against his arm. He twitched, but didn't open his eyes. "Steven…" I spoke a little louder.

He scrunched his nose and groaned, "What? What is it?"

"We're here. You need to get out of the car." I tugged on his arm lightly and watched as he opened his blazing blue eyes. He slowly reached over and unbuckled his seat belt, taking his time getting out of the car. I offered to help him to the house, but he refused and walked on his own. I looked at him worriedly, but he assured me that he would be fine.

Tony took a panel off of the side of the house and punched in some numbers into the keypad. He scanned his fingerprint next and wiped the evidence from the screen once it passed security. He snapped his fingers and turned to the group as the door opened. "Seems like a lot of security, but it comes in handy when one of us needs to lay low for a bit." He opened the door and turned the lights on by clapping. "Jarvis, wake up, buddy. I'm home."

The cabin inside looked more spacious than it did on the outside. The green wallpaper matched with the brown carpeting and gave off a homely feel. Thick dark green curtains covered the windows and kept out the nightly chill. A big screen television hung on the wall in front of a few couches. Photographs lined the walls, all of various times Tony was out with Pepper, and others of the team.

Jarvis seemed to almost yawn before answering, "Nice to see you again, Mr. Stark. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Just be here for me, J. That's all I need right now." Tony set the keys to the car on the table and waited for all of us to collapse onto the soft couches. He rubbed his hands on his face, letting out the frustration in his system. We were finally safe.

Peter dove onto the couch and rolled around until Clint jumped on top of him. My cousin pushed him off of him and onto one side of the couch, while he occupied the other. Natasha plopped down in between them and stopped any future fighting. Bruce took a single chair, while Steve, Sif, and I occupied the other couch. The mystery woman sat on the floor next to Sif and observed us. Peter shot some weird faces in my direction, and only got a confused expression in return.

"This place runs on its own generator, so I'm not on the power company's system. It's registered under Jarvis' name and was inherited by his 'son'. I took that persona just in case I needed it. This cabin is reinforced by the strongest material I could get my hands on, strong enough to keep the Hulk inside. There are several rooms, cable, and wifi, if anyone needs it." He pointed in different directions, indicating what he was talking about. He strolled over to the small bar in front of the kitchen. "Drinks, anyone?"

I didn't care if Tony was a recovering alcoholic. At this point, we all needed a drink. "Yes, please," we chorused. Tony brought two bottles scotch and whiskey and small glasses. After getting everyone situated, he sat down on the ottoman next to Bruce.

"What happened to Thor? Is he okay?" Barton questioned. He sniffed the alcohol and swished it around the cup before taking a sip of it. He cringed at the burning sensation in the back of his throat and waited for Sif to answer.

Sif glanced at all of us before speaking in a low voice, "Thor is distraught and distant. A chunk of Asgard got blown up before the portal leading to Midgard closed." She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes. "I watched it happen from the Palace. People were screaming. Flames engulfed the city. Worry flowed through me, for I could not tell how much of Asgard would be destroyed. I rushed outside with the Warrior's Three and found Thor on the ground, bloody and beaten. He yelled and cried out for his brother, but Loki was not anywhere within the vicinity."

All of us listened to her story intently. We craved knowledge about our dear friend. Knowing the nuclear bomb went into Asgard only made the guilt worse. Clint leaned back in his chair and adjusted in his seat. He asked, "And then what? Why did he wait so long to send a message to us?"

Sif bowed her head and continued, "He's been occupied with rebuilding what was destroyed. The guards and Asgard's top scientists are quarantining people and that section of the wrecked city. The city itself was not the only thing destroyed. Loki's destruction put fear in the people. He killed Odin. We did not know about this for a while, but after some of you came to Asgard on a suspicion, I began to look into it."

"Dead parents. Seems like our caped friend can officially join the club," Tony scoffed and rubbed his chin. All of us glared at him and his dark humor, but he was telling the truth. Two times of truth in a row. Wow, Tony was on a roll.

Sif ignored the comment and bit her tongue to keep her from saying anything nasty. She finished her story, "He's the king of a broken city and won't be back for a while. He told us to come and see how everything is holding up, but Son of Coul told us of your situation and we had to help."

"Thank you," all of us said in unison. It was a nice change to have someone looking out for us these dark days.

"You are indeed welcome," Sif declared with a small smile. The woman she brought with her bowed her head in silence, acknowledging our thanks. She hadn't said anything the whole time. The woman was just listening.

Natasha put her attention on the woman. She sized her up, taking in the golden markings on her face, her light purple skin, black hair, and the distant look in her gray eyes. Nat pointed her drink towards her and asked, "What about you? What's your story?"

The woman fixed her eyes on the Russian assassin and her eyes darkened. She tilted her head slightly, letting her hair scrape against her shoulder as she thought for a moment. Her mouth didn't open much when she talked, but a strong voice filled the room, "My birth name is Iraencliopitawole Huntsirequae, but it is too long to actually say correctly by most people. For short, I go by Ira. I come from planet Macalia, which sits on the other side of the galaxy. Most of it is overcome by ice and snow, so my people built cities underneath the ice. My people lived peacefully, until the Ancastinomias attacked."

Sif explained further into the story to give some insight, "The species are big red creatures with five legs and claws for hands. Horns adorn their heads, the length showing who is in charge by how long it is. Their eyes glow a fierce gold and sharp teeth to frighten the enemy. They have tried to take over many planets, but most of their attempts fail."

Ira nodded and looked at Sif in an appreciating way. Her tone lowered and she clasped her hands together in her lap. "And that is because of you, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three. They came to our rescue and freed the people that were captured. My family was not spared in the end, much to my dismay and heartbreak…My father was the only one left alive. Though, he too, did parish because of a virus that spread around after the Ancastinomias fleed." She turned away and grit her teeth. "Those fushkasios."

All eyes were on Sif now for her to translate. Sif raised her eyebrows and bit her lip while she searched her mind for a similar word. "In a simple and clean way, it means cowards."

Ira scoffed, "Cowards is putting it too lightly." She crossed her legs on the floor and her expression softened. "I could not thank the Asgardians enough and wished to be trained by them. They accepted. The first time I went to Asgard, I was in awe. The structures once stood at beautiful heights and the feeling in the air could lift anyone's soul. The smells, the music, the atmosphere, it was all such a joy to be around." Her eyes lit up, but her expression did not change. "I met Loki and Thor. This was around a couple thousand years ago, so they were young and naïve then."

"Young and naïve? I could imagine Thor like that. Loki? I'm not so sure about that," Bruce nearly laughed at her words, but kept it at bay. How more naïve could Loki get? If anything, he was more sensible than he is now.

"Yes. He was." Ira glared at Bruce and held her stare as she continued, "He was the sweetest man. He wrote poetry, performed tricks his mother taught him, sang, and even told the best stories. But…" Her eyes flickered away and focused on the glass she held in her hand. "A civil war broke out on Macalia, so I had to go back. I haven't been to Asgard since. Sif recruited me before coming here to aid her in her endeavors."

Before any of us could say a word about who Loki was now, Sif stood up from her seat and set the glass cup on the coffee table. She fixed her dark blue S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, one that she had borrowed from Coulson to keep her cover, and put her fist to her chest. "I best be taking my leave. Thor is waiting for the news on his friends. Ira will be staying with you until you no longer need assistance."

Tony's eyes narrowed a bit before declaring, "We're fine without her. It's already enough hiding all of us. Another? That's asking a bit much."

"It is for your own protection," Ira added and stood her ground.

Steve laughed for a few seconds. That was singlehandedly the funniest thing he'd heard all year. "Protection for the Avengers? That's not what you hear everyday."

Ira scowled. People laughing at her? She wouldn't stand for that. "I am serious. There is no use for me in Asgard and I am the best bet you have at survival. The government is searching for you. You may have been on the run for quite some time, but you aren't going to get very far without an extra set of hands."

Peter intervened before anyone could say anything, "Maybe she's right. Let's give her a chance. She could be of use, after all." He shrugged and set his drink on the table.

As the group considered it, I got up and held Sif back for a second. "Before you call for Heimdall, please go somewhere far from here. If the government can track the readings from your journey, then they can find us." Sif nodded and left the cabin. Jarvis locked the door behind her and secured it before going back to listening to the conversation.

"Can I just say how much I can't wait to sleep tonight? I bet the beds here are so comfy." Clint rested his head against the back of the sofa and imagined it in his head. He let out a longing sigh and peered at the ceiling. "You know Tony Stark doesn't settle for anything but the best."

"Well…" Stark eyed his glass before chugging it down and setting it down on the table, making a sharp sound fly through the air. He growled and cleared the burning sensation in his throat. "Robin Hood is right on that one."

How could Stark joke around with the nicknames at a time like this? All of us were torn, beaten down, and tired. How could he still be full of life and not have a care in the world? Does he hold it in? Does he not feel anything at all? I had to ask him later. I had to know. Coming from Steve, I would understand if he kept it all inside. Tony? I expected something else.

"At least the beds here won't feel like we're sleeping on planks of wood," Bruce commented and sank deeper into his seat.

Steve shrugged his shoulders. His blue eyes seemed to stare off and fixate on the wall. "I didn't really mind it. Better than sleeping on the ground like we had for five months."

"And the food!" Peter chimed in, in disgust. He seemed happy that we would never have terrible food like that again, but the worst wasn't over.

Natasha cringed at the mere memory of it. "The food was horrible."

We all laughed and agreed. It was the first time in forever a laugh even made its way out into the open from one of our throats. I thought I'd seen the cold times behind us in the past.

I've seen colder.

The future seemed terrifying. Chilling. Pain right down to the core. Heart wrenching. But he we were now, sitting in a safe house laughing about the past. It was so hard for me to stay in the present and enjoy it when impending doom stared us right in the face in the future. I heard what Sif had said. Thor was calling out for his brother, but Loki was nowhere to be seen. If Thor made it, he must have too. My attention reeled back in when Tony started talking.

"There are extra clothes for us stored here in the bathroom closet. Since I do supply the group some rather badass looking costumes to run around and fight crime in, I had Jarvis place an order for extra clothes for us."

Would that be considered considerate, or creepy?

Either way, we had fresh clothes waiting for us in…the bathroom closet? They had such a thing? Was this a big, walk in closet? Only Tony…

The group all looked at each other carefully, eyes narrowing and muscles tensing up. We shot up from our seats and raced towards the bathroom. Steve stayed put, not trying to hurt himself or open his wounds. Clint, Bruce, and Tony took each other down first. There was only one bathroom, so first come first serve. Peter, Nat, and I took the lead. Natasha nodded to me and I tackled Peter. He hit the ground and swatted me off of him, but by then, it was too late. Natasha locked the bathroom door behind her.

The guys banged on the bathroom door with their fists, eager to get inside and pull her out of there, but it was no use. She had already won. Clint managed to get inside after everyone stopped trying, probably in an attempt to save the hot water for us.

We hoped that's what he was doing.


	8. Chapter 8

_Click._

I took my glasses off and rubbed my eyes for a minute. Sitting at the computer screen for over an hour was killing my eyesight. I hadn't been on a computer in months, so my eyes became sensitive to it. I sighed tiredly. I couldn't find anything on what I was looking for. No news on what was happening at the White House. No news on Loki. Just random threats around the country. Riots, murders, gang wars. The usual. It was hard to  think that such terrible things could even be the usual. My heart ached at the thought of it. And to make it worse, there were even more horrible things out there. Human trafficking. Bombings. War. I hated it. Hated it all. All these news articles just made me dread going back to the normal life; the life where I looked for jobs to do and help people in need. So much to do. So little time. I couldn't save everyone.

I put my black framed glasses back on and resumed my pursuit. I cleared the search bar and typed in _Recent crimes in New York_. Numerous files came up. The same news headers about the Avengers being terrorists, vigilantes with a good cause, psychopaths who think they can fix the world, and more flashed on the screen. I rolled my eyes. This had nothing to do with New York. I guess since our headquarters is in New York, they decided to post the headlines. I scrolled down further and found interesting stuff. _The Black Mask Bombs Russian Buildings_ , and a later article with the headline _Daredevil Collars Fisk_. I raised an eyebrow. _Hell's Kitchen…huh._ I thought.

"What are you looking at?"

I jumped at the sound of Steve's voice behind me. I turned around and pushed his chest playfully, but he didn't move an inch. "You scared me! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I mean, out of the two of us, I thought you would be the first to have one."

"That wasn't my intention," he chuckled and sat down on the bed. "Way to go for adding that age joke in there, except it really wasn't funny."

I shrugged and closed the tabs on the computer before signing off. "I always have to try." My feet tapped on the ground and twirled the chair around to face him. We've only been here for a few days and now he's hanging out in my room? Something must have been bothering him. "What's up?"

"Our wanted level. That's what's up." Steve ran his hand through his hair repeatedly. His eyes ran around the walls and the floor before locking onto me. His lip twitched to say something, but he stopped and knit his eyebrows together.

"Steve?" Worry began to flow through my system. _Does he know something I don't?_ I shifted in my seat and tilted my head a bit. "What's on your mind?"

He rubbed his chin slowly in thought. "I've been trying to think about a plan to keep everyone safe. Where do we go after this? What do we do? Can the American government get us from here? Will the Canadians turn us in? Do we even have a place to go? We have some of Stark's money from his vault, but how far can we really get before getting caught? How…"

I stopped him and put one hand on his knee. "Steve. One thing at a time. Don't overload yourself with so many questions. The government shouldn't be able to get us from here, but the Canadians can surely turn us in if they wanted to. The plan is to have each others' backs. And for the next place we go…" I trailed off.

"We have nothing." He scoffed and looked at the ground. "No where to go. No where to turn. All of our homes have been made public, or at least known to the government. If we go there, they'll catch us again. I asked the rest of the group. No one else has an unknown safe house."

A light bulb lit up inside of my head and I quickly added, "My professor has a safe house up here in Canada. We could go there if we need to."

Steve scrunched his eyebrows together in concern. He slightly cocked his head to the left and questioned, "Isn't that putting them in danger?"

"When aren't they in danger?" I scoffed.

He tried to move around on the bed and winced from the pain that shot up his side. I got up to help him and put my hands out, but he waved me off and shook his head. "No, I'm fine," he grunted while adjusting himself. He noticed me back off as he leaned against the headboard of the bed. His blue eyes locked onto my hazel ones and he apologized, "I'm sorry. I'm just…not used to the help."

I put my hands in the air in defense. "It's fine. I understand." I sat down close to him and kept an eye on him to make sure he wouldn't open his wounds. He probably wasn't used to the help because his parents weren't there a lot for him. His dad died in the first world war and his mother was a nurse. He must've done a lot of things on his own while Bucky wasn't around.

Steve saw the worry in my eyes and I quickly glanced away. He noticed I became a little too quiet and saw me picking at the skin on my fingers, a tell sign that I was nervous. "What's wrong?"

I looked away from him and down at my hands. I scrunched my eyebrows together for a second and sighed. "Since the…" I couldn't even muster up the courage to say it. _Bomb. Explosion. Fight._ "…what happened, I've been thinking. We let all of those people down. We retreated. That's not what superheroes do, but it was the only thing we _could_ do. That fact has been haunting me for a while now. I feel powerless. I can't help everyone. Not even you, and you're one of the people I want to assist the most."

We knew who we were dealing with, so we were the best hope and fighters for this battle. Steve knew that all too well. He hung his head and ashamedly stated, "I know."

"It's the sad truth. We can't save everyone." A lump got caught in my throat and I nearly choked on the next few words. "But what if I can't save you guys? What if one day I screw up so bad and it gets one or more of you killed? What i-"

Steve set his hand on mine and stopped me before I could say anything else, "Don't even think about that. It's nothing to fret over right now."

"Steve," I began and exhaled, "sooner or later, I'm going to have to face it. That incident made me realize you guys are mortal. I'm not. I'm going to outlive you. Then what? Be stuck with Logan and Wade Wilson for all eternity? Talk about a death sentence." I almost laughed at that. Almost. "They have their moments, but…Logan and I can barely stand Wade sometimes. But, we love him, so we have to. We can only kill Wade so many times before he starts getting pissed off and makes it boring…" I trailed off and ran my finger over the top of his hand in swirls. It hurt me to think of such a sad thing. "I don't want to be subjected to that. I'm afraid of losing everything."

Steve squeezed my hand and his eyes flickered back to me. His chest heaved for a second to get air and withstand the slight pain from his wounds. "Don't think about that now. Okay? We just escaped prison. We're all alive and well for now. We're together…"

I looked into Steve's eyes and nodded. "Yeah. I gotta put my head back in the present…I get too carried away at times when it comes to the future."

"I don't blame you. I used to think of 'what ifs' for the past. Been there. Done that." He glanced down at our hands and lifted one corner of his mouth. He rested his free hand on his stomach, covering the wounds that were healing faster each day. The super soldier serum helped in regeneration of the cells and made them faster than the average human's. In situations like this, it was a blessing.

He changed the conversation to get my mind off of the future. He turned his attention toward the window and spoke softly, "For the longest time, I've been part of this team as a soldier. A leader. We took care of bad guys and cleared missions Fury gave us before he stepped down. I tried finding a place where I belonged. Didn't work out. So, I stayed with the team. And out of all the things I knew I'd get out of by staying…" His eyes flickered back to me and a small smirk played on his lips. "I didn't expect you."

I wanted to say that was sweet or something along those lines, but I couldn't get the words passed my throat. Instead, I said something completely different subconsciously, "Well. Things do change. People come and go."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and his face paled a tad bit. His jaw muscle flexed as he clenched his teeth together. His blue eyes searched mine, looking for something, anything to make sense of what was said. "You want to go?"

"No…that's not what I meant. I don't want to go." I paused and contemplated on what I had said thirty seconds ago. _People come and go? What is that supposed to mean? Get it together, girl._ "I mean…God." I shook my head slowly and exhaled. The feeling of loss swept over me. If I were to leave, I'd be leaving a huge chunk of my life behind. "Where would I go? Back to the school? Back to winging it on my own? No. I can't. It's just…" Searching for the words took a few more seconds, but I wanted to be sure I was putting this in the right way. "It's just not that simple. I can't give up what makes me happy."

"The team?" He questioned and relaxed his face.

I nodded and added, "And being around for my cousin. Also, I never thought in a million years that we'd get along so well." A small smile formed on my lips. It felt weird and foreign to be smiling. Sure, I smiled the other day after we got settled in at Tony's house, but still. It felt…off somehow. Like our pain and suffering wasn't over just yet.

Steve cringed at the thought of how he used to shoot rude remarks at me earlier in the year. "Yeah. It's still like that sometimes."

"Well, what do you expect? We love bickering and testing each other." I pointed out.

Saying that put a grin on Steve's face. His blue eyes sparkled for a split second like a flash of lightning, quick and beautiful in its own way. I missed the light in his eyes. I missed the hope in the group's eyes. If I could turn back time and rewrite history, I would. Save those lives and everything would be okay. Right now, everything was not okay. "Yeah. Keeps me on my toes," he added and trailed off.

I rested my head on his broad shoulder. He tensed up for a second and then relaxed. Steve's eyes focused on me, waiting for me to say something. I spoke what was on my mind at the moment in almost a whisper, "Do you think everything will go back to normal?"

Steve thought it over and tore his attention off of me. His eyes caught sight of the painting of the forest and fireworks above it. The trees lit up against the darkness, showing the bristles and leaves. The rest of the forest was dark and cold. Dashes of colors mixed at the top of the painting, depicting beautiful fireworks below the stars. "If we're lucky, we'll get close to normal. I don't think everything will return the way it was. Ever."

My fingers linked together and twisted. Flashes of past thoughts ran through my mind and I cringed. "I'm just…nervous. I can feel something bad is about to happen."

"How do you know?"

"Gut instinct," I replied softly. Gut instincts usually came true. That's what I was worried about. If anything was going to happen, I'd want to know about it. I hate random surprises.

"Don't be nervous. Whatever happens, I'm with you til the end of the line." Steve took one of my hands and kissed the top of it. That was cute. Definitely not something you see everyday. Steve Rogers was…something else. I wanted to say something back in response to that, but anything I said would have sounded corny.

Something popped into my mind and I called out, "Jarvis?"

"Yes, Ms. Parker?" Jarvis' voice crackled over the room's speaker system.

I bit my lip as my brain ran through all of the articles I read earlier. "Can you please check the news to see if any weird phenomena has been going on or if any villains are running amok? I didn't find any in my search, but you are probably more thorough."

"Since you asked nicely, I will right away," he responded and left on his search.

"What is this about?" Steve questioned and raised an eyebrow.

I remembered back to when we broke out of jail. "There weren't a lot of agents at the facility. The government should've known we'd try to escape and go searching for Loki or someone else. Something must've happened that may have caused the government to pull some agents and order them to protect the President or the Pentagon. They're more important than us in bad situations." I paused and looked for the right words to say. "They did a terrible job watching us anyway."

Steve nodded in agreement. The idea seemed pretty practical in a situation like this. "Do you think Loki's alive? He was in the center of the blast."

"Well, if Thor survived, Loki must've been pulled out with him." I tapped my foot against the floor for a second in thought and tried to make sense of it. Thor uses Mjonir to fly, so they could have gotten out of the blast in seconds. He's as fast as lightning. Right? It's the only thing that made sense to me. "And with Loki still out there…"

Steve cut me off, "He could come back and finish what he started."

That was the worst part. Loki could come back anywhere, anytime, with a new set of big baddies to back him up. He could have total control of the government or have his scepter back. Loki might as well call us out on our failures now before they even begin. He was lining something good up. Something mischievous. I could feel it.

Jarvis' voice flowed from the speakers, "Nothing has shown up yet, but I'll keep running the scan."

"Thank you, Jarvis," I waved to the camera and smiled softly. I knew Jarvis was watching, and it always made him feel more human if he encountered actual interactions. Over the years, he's developed some of Tony's sass. Pair that up with Jarvis' intelligence, and you have a tiny replica of Tony Stark in control of everything we owned. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I loved being in Jarvis' company.

"It's not a problem, Ms. Parker."


	9. Chapter 9

"Please, just keep your cover," I whispered to Peter as we walked into the small grocery store. I searched the giant room quickly, taking in different exits and things to use as a weapon if it came down to it. Green walls, tan tiled floor, displays and bins full of food and free samples, this grocery store seemed pretty stocked for being in a medium sized town. The store clerks greeted us with warm smiles and kind voices.

Peter gave me a thumbs up before leaving in the other direction. The purple beanie on his head covered most of his brown hair and he tried to hide his face from the people he passed. I kept my head held high and strolled into the dinner isle. My clothes rubbed against each other, for I was wearing Steve's clothes that was a size or two bigger to keep my cover. My black hair fell into my face and I blew it away. Since we got to Tony's, Natasha and I sent Bruce and Peter out to pick hair dye. I dyed my hair black and Natasha became a blonde. It made it easier for us to remain hidden. The boys, on the other hand, were out of luck.

The news played over the trendy music on the speaker system. An anchor woman's voice dominated the debate, "The Avengers are terrorists. I'm sorry. They bombed Chicago and are guilty of it."

I curled my hands around the box of food I held and scowled. I could see how easily a civilian could be convinced it was our fault, but they were fed one of the biggest lies in superhero history.

She continued over the speaker, "They ran from the government for months. Running only means they did something bad. Once they're put in jail, they escape and slaughter some of the innocent guards. The Avengers should be in jail for life."

A man jumped in on the conversation in a heartbeat, almost cutting her off towards the end, "What happens when the world needs saving again? Are you going to have the same mentality?"

I picked up a few cans of food and started heading to the front of the store. Peter's job was to get snacks and drinks. I listened to the news intently, my blood starting to simmer.

"Yes," the anchor woman declared in a dead tone. "My mind isn't going to change. I had family in Chicago. And they killed them."

My heart sank immediately. Lots of people died. I knew that. What I didn't think about were the families that had relatives in the city. God, they must hate us. They wanted us to save them and we failed. We failed more lives than just the ones we lost.

Peter nodded when he saw me and headed to the cashier. I glanced over all of the snacks he put on the conveyer belt and rolled my eyes. There were more snacks than we actually needed. I didn't blame him, though. It had been a _long_ time since we enjoyed food we liked. I aimlessly picked up the first newspaper on the shelf as we waited.

_"Heroes Stuck in a Villain's Web of Blame: Nuke in Chicago Not Their Fault. Stark has stopped production of Stark Industries Nuclear Weapons according to his contract. Anyone could have acquired a Stark weapon on the black market or from a private seller and put the blame on the Avengers. To read more, turn to page 46."_

I contemplated with a sigh. _At least someone is thinking outside the box for other possibilities. Heroes bombing a city? What's the point of trying to save them, then?_

Out of the store and with groceries packed in the small car, we were ready to head back home. I stopped at my car door and peered at what sat on the sidewalk. Peter followed my gaze and spotted a payphone. A small smirk spread across his lips. "Of all the payphones that haven't been closed down, this one happens to be one of them. I think our luck is turning."

I used the sleeve of my shirt to hold the phone and put in the change needed to make a call. The other end rang after dialing the number.

_Ring._

_Ring._

_Ring._

"Hello?" A soft voice picked up on the other side. Music played faintly in the background and the usual noise of the rustling wind against the house drifted through the phone.

"Hi, Aunt May. It's Lilly." Peter's dull eyes lit up at the sound of her name and reached for the phone. I swatted him away and held up my index finger to indicate I'll give it to him in a second.

Her breathing hitched and the chair she sat in creaked as she leaned forward. "Lilly! It's all over the news that you escaped! Are you okay?"

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. Aunt May must have been really worried these past few months. I don't blame her. She has the right to be. I thought it was sweet that she cared so much. "Yeah, Aunt May, we're fine. I'll give the phone to Peter in a second." I side-glanced at my cousin, who smiled widely at my words. I rested my hand on the wall to support myself and continued, "How are you and Amelia?"

"We're both doing great, sweetie. Amelia is such a doll, and she's talented at drawing too. She's made so many for you for when you all get back," she answered and half laughed. Amelia brought Aunt May joy, and that thought alone is what kept me hopeful about coming home.

I put my hand to my heart and made the saddest face. "Aw…I'll get a phone soon and you can send me a picture of both of you. Peter's getting really antsy, so I'm going to go. I love you, and please tell Amelia that I love her."

"Will do, Lilly. You take care now. Oh! And who is this man Amelia says you're with? He better take good care of you," Aunt May quickly added. I wanted to tell her, but Peter wanted to talk to her so bad.

He snatched the phone away from me eagerly and put it up to his ear. He ruffled his hair and closed his eyes. "Aunt May, I've missed you so much…"

I waited patiently as he continued the call. _He deserves this._ Peter deserved everything happy that came to him. He's an amazing guy. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as he couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. He chuckled at what Aunt May said and shot a joke back at her. She laughed so loud that I could hear her over the phone from where I was standing.

"When this is all over, we're going on vacation, I promise. We're both going to need it," Peter mentioned and listened to her reply. His grasp on the phone became tighter and his voice lowered. "I love you, Aunt May. I'll try to keep in touch. Okay?" He opened his eyes and put the phone back on the hook.

"It'll be all right. You'll talk with her again soon." I patted him on the back before going to make another call. Peter glanced around carefully and leaned against the wall to wait for me. I listened to the ringing again, this time impatiently as it continued on and on.

"Who the hell is this?" A gruff voice answered on the other end.

"Is that any way to greet me back into the land of the living?" I replied and held back my sarcasm. I wasn't surprised Logan answered the phone like that. I probably would have done the same thing.

"Lilly?"

I took the moment in for a second. His voice became a soothing reminder of all the good times we've had and times in the future. We've been disconnected from our lives for so long that I missed it so much. "Yeah. It's me. I'm just calling to let you know I'm all right."

Logan completely ignored what I said and nearly yelled, "What the hell, kid! I thought I told you to stay _out_ of trouble! And then you go and blow up a city?" His voice scratched against the connection and the background noises ceased to exist for a few seconds.

I groaned and spoke quietly, "The government pinned it on us to make it seem like it's the hero, when in reality, it's not." Would we forgive the government in the future? Probably after this whole mess is taken care of. Would everything go back to normal? No. Not really.

"Well, I always told you not to trust the government," he stated matter-of-factly. The sounds of people talking in the background seemed pleasant and I yearned to be there.

I shook my head and chuckled, "Yeah. I know. Hey, is the safe house clear? I don't want to put anyone in danger if its in use."

"No, it's clear. You remember the pass code, right?"

Before I could reply, someone else on the other end cut into the conversation, "Is that Lilly? Let me talk to her!" Kitty Pryde's voice grew louder the closer she got, "I need to hear everything from her."

Peter motioned to his wrist, indicating we'd been out too long. We didn't want to get noticed and have someone stop us on the way back to the car. I nodded to show him I understood and said, "I'll call you later when I get a phone from the vault. Tell everyone not to worry and that I'm okay. I love you."

"I love you too, Lillybug. Stay safe," Logan responded and hung up.

Peter raised an eyebrow and one corner of his mouth lifted. "Did he just call you Lillybug?" He questioned in a light tone. He poked my arm when I didn't answer and jested, "Isn't that so cute! Lillybug." My face burned red out of embarrassment and anger. "And you're blushing! Aw, my cousin loves her adorable nickname," he pinched my cheek.

I slapped his hand away and muttered something under my breath. Peter laughed to his heart's content at my reaction and wiped a tear away. I got into the car and locked it before he got inside. He tried to open the passenger door, but failed.

"Hey, open the door," he said with a slight laugh. I turned the car on and started driving on without him. He thought he could make fun of me and get away with it.

Not this time.

Peter jogged next to the car and called out, "Seriously, let me in the car!" I slowed down and rolled down the window, but didn't unlock the car. I remained silent until he spoke again. "I'm sorry. Unlock the car!" I huffed and stopped the car for a second to let him in. He buckled up and waited for five minutes until he playfully said, "Thanks for stopping, Lillybug."

"Peter, I will throw you out of this car," I threatened and suppressed a smirk. I didn't want this to catch on. Tony already knew about the nickname and no one else does. Once it's out there, I'll never hear the end of it.

He turned towards me and snorted, "You won't."

My hands tightened around the steering wheel. I technically could throw him out of the car. I'd just use my powers to unbuckle the seatbelt, open the door, and push him out. It's possible. But sadly, I wouldn’t do it. "Keep it up, and I just might."

Peter chuckled a bit and contemplated for a minute or two. He changed the radio station a few times and played with the volume. The sound of his voice seemed rough and in pain, "Do you think I'll finish college?"

I glanced over at him for a second, seeing his brown eyes revealing his anguish. My heart ached. I've never heard someone so concerned about their education before. "Yeah, Peter. You'll finish college. I think you'll even get your Masters degree, someday." I noticed he looked down at his shoes and I added, "You don't need to worry about it. This will all blow over soon."

"You really believe that?" He asked skeptically.

 _No. No I don't. But I have to give you hope because I want you relieved instead of stressed like me._ I thought and nodded. "Yeah, I really do."


	10. Chapter 10

A lot of noise erupted from the basement. Tony messed with what he had down there and worked on his suit. He was standoffish lately, so we left him alone to tinker with his toys. Our backpacks were packed with essentials and food just in case we needed to leave in a hurry.

Ira curiously observed everyone, taking in our actions and how we did things. She relaxed against the chair off to the side of the living room and tilted her head when she didn’t understand something. Eventually, she pulled out a notebook and started writing notes in her language. Natasha curled up in one of the window seats and read a book. Bruce flipped through some new schematic he was designing. Peter and Steve played a board game. Both of them were tied and all of their concentration was put into the game.

Clint walked in and carefully sat down next to me while holding a giant cup of coffee in his hands. He held the cup like it was the holy grail itself, carrying the most divine fluid in the world. He inhaled before taking a sip, moaning at the taste of it. Barton missed coffee so much. The taste. The smell. It was like his lifeline right now. "You guys don't know what you're missing out on. This is the richest, most delicious coffee I've ever tasted. The warmth envelops your entire body and sends chills down your spine. The spices mix around the cup and fills the air with an aroma of mouth-watering goodness. When you take a sip, the nutmeg and pepper dances across your tongue and settles in your mouth to leave a tingling aftertaste."

By the end of his description, almost all of our mouths were watering for some of that coffee. "Too bad this is the last brew of this particular coffee. Tony only had one pouch of it left," Clint added and took a long drink.

We all groaned in unison and I threw my head back against the couch. _What a tease._ I relaxed against the soft couch cushions and drifted into a happy state of mind. All of us were together, safe, and cherishing modern furniture to our heart's content. I lifted my head and looked over at the two boys playing the board game. Steve glanced up and locked eyes with me, forming a small grin on his lips. I smiled in return and was about to say something until Barton spoke up again.

"Do you guys trust me with your lives?" He set the cup down in his lap and looked at it blankly. Clint wasn't usually the one to look down on himself, but something really hit him to the core. His voice almost fell to a whisper, "I've read some internet conversations saying that I'm useless and don't contribute to the team…"

"We trust you, Clint," we said in unison. We glimpsed at each other and waited for someone to speak up first.

Steve took the initiative to talk, "You're an expert marksman and Avenger."

"You're funny and a good gamer," Peter added to the list.

Bruce chipped in too as he peered up from his schematics, "You're great at making coffee and scaring the crap out of Tony."

I set my hand on his shoulder and looked into his blue eyes. _Damn. Everyone took the good characteristics._ I ran through my memories, going back over six months. _After I almost killed Steve, he consoled me. That's it. That's another thing about him that we love._ "You give great advice and really bring this team together, Clint. I don't know what we'd do without you."

He nodded slowly and flexed his jaw. His eyes grazed over Ira and fixated on Nat, who listened in on the conversation, but didn't take part in it. Clint watched her in silence, admiring the light making her blonde hair glisten and her green eyes sparkle as they scanned the page. "Nat, you trust me, right?"

Natasha closed her book and set her hands on top of it. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips, but never quite made it fully. Her eyes flickered over to him and softened. Her voice subtly hinted at her fondness of him and she quickly covered it up, "Yeah, I do. I do."

Clint's face darkened to a light pink and held his gaze. "Thanks, guys. It really helps that you said all of that." His thumb ran over the cup back and forth as he sat in thought.

The room became full of silence and gestures. Smiles from across the room, steady gazes, shifting positions, and peace and quiet to wrap it all up in a bow. Steve moved one of his game pieces and handed Peter the dice. Romanoff watched Barton as he drank his coffee, finishing off the last of it. Bruce closed his notebook and tapped his pen against his chin in thought. Ira observed us and her eyes moved back and forth like she started calculating something.

"Take cover!" Tony screamed from the basement.

It all happened in a matter of seconds, but God, it felt like minutes.

An explosion went off outside, shaking the whole cabin and shattering the windows. Hot glass flew everywhere and we all sought refuge on the floor. Steve flipped the coffee table over to shield Peter, Clint, himself, and I. Natasha and Bruce were too close to the windows to be covered safely and Ira didn't move a muscle. Her hair flew about wildly, but her eyes remained focused on me. She unsheathed her sword and I shook my head at her. We agreed to not kill anyone…yet, at least. A sharp ringing stuck in my ears and my eyesight blurred a bit.

"What the hell…?" Peter whispered as he tried to get his bearings. His hand scratched at the floor and he swayed from side-to-side like the world spun faster than he could comprehend. I held him steady and brought him to his feet slowly.

Clint pushed himself up off of the floor and winced. "Natasha? Nat, are you okay?" He dragged his fingers down his arm, which bled from the big gash in his skin.

"Yeah…yeah, just a bit cut up," she groaned from her position. She forced herself up and walked over to Barton in almost a daze. The skin on her face had tiny rips in it from the impact of the glass shards. Her nose bled and her green eyes seemed to focus on nothing in particular.

Tony ran up the stairs in his Iron Man suit, the red and yellow paint shining in the sunlight. He held two backpacks and moved quickly across the room. "Is everyone all right?" All of us nodded collectively in response. "Good. It'll take a while for them to get passed the openings. Jarvis has input lasers in place of the windows now and will take out anything they throw in. They can't make it through the walls unless they have a weapon I don't know about, which ultimately is quite rude."

"Remember the plan," Steve advised in a low grumble. He quickly moved around the room to snatch his shield from the corner and his backpack. All of us struggled to do the same, helping each other out here and there to walk or carry items.

"Do you hear that?" Bruce whispered to all of us. He took the two bags from Tony and put them on his back. We listened in on our surroundings intently. "It's like they all vanished…"

Steve hesitated at the door, holding the door knob in place. "Or they're all just hiding to ambush us…" he trailed off and nodded to all of us, indicating his next action. He took a deep breath and swung the back door open, holding his shield in front of him as he charged outside. Tony immediately flew off with Bruce in his grasp away towards our destination. Bruce didn't want to hulk out if the situation went bad, so Tony volunteered to take him. We stayed in tight formation, watching the outskirts of the trees to see any movements. Our mission was to get to the car safely, which stayed parked in between some trees.

_BOOM!_

Steve pulled Peter to him and covered him. My skin turned into diamond and I defended Clint and Natasha. Ira dropped to her knees, low enough to miss any debris that flew into the air. The heat kissed my skin and left it red and tender after I changed back. I cringed and urged them forward. "Switch to plan B, guys," I ordered.

Nat and Clint nodded and ran off in one direction, while Peter and Ira went off in the other. Steve and I glanced around, listening to the gunfire arising from the trees. He tugged my arm and headed towards Peter and Ira. "We can't let Peter go alone with Ira. We barely know her."

"Us four then…let's go." I ran with him, deflecting any bullets that I could by controlling them. The attackers used a mixed variety of metal and plastic bullets. The sounds of the guns going off faded away and my heart beat sped up. The power flowing through my finger tips surged with greater intensity, jamming the metallic bullets in the guns before they could even fire. Adrenaline shot through my veins, making my mind process things faster to the point where it seemed like things were moving in slow motion at times. When we caught up to them, they were being surrounded by agents.

Peter threw webbing at a few of them, and proceeded to go with hand-to-hand combat for the rest. He hit a guy in the throat, rendering him unconscious in seconds. He kicked an attacker and threw another one down onto the ground. Peter took a few hits, and quickly retaliated with hits of his own. Ira kept putting her hand to her sword, but retracted it and went in for a punch. She downed four guys before one even managed to touch her. She whipped her leg out and her foot impacted on a girl's jaw, sending her to the ground.

Steve and I joined the fight, eager to protect them in any way we could. Punches, hits, kicks, even some biting happened over the course of twenty seconds. Steve glanced over at me a few times to make sure I was still in the fight. I was going strong and using portals to confuse the attackers. Some of them shot into the portals, and only shot themselves in various places because the other end of the portal popped up behind them. They all cried out in anger and pain, but none of them were close to dying.

It wasn't until we got a good look at our enemies that one of us spoke up. "S.H.I.E.L.D. agents? Did Coulson send them?" Peter asked and launched some webs at the agents. They twisted on impact, gluing the guns inside of a tight cocoon, unable to fire.

Steve grunted as he threw his shield, "No. There's no way he'd agree to this. Maybe someone else is calling the shots." He ducked and slammed a guy's head into the ground.

"How did they find us?" I questioned, breaking a gun in half with my powers and hitting a guy over the head with it. I huffed and kicked another guy that came up on Peter's blind spot.

"Hell if I know," Rogers spit out. He caught his shield and slammed it into an agent's chest. The wind was knocked out of her and she stumbled backwards into her teammates.

"I thought we were done with the whole _on the run_ thing for a while," I commented and froze an agent to their spot. I twisted his arm behind his back and forced my foot onto a woman's chest, making her fall over. Ira took it a step farther and kicked her head.

Peter hesitated for a moment, "Well…knowing our luck, it makes sense."

"I don't know how we were found so quickly." Steve fought with a couple guys as we made our way through the forest and brooded. None of this made sense to him. His eyebrows raised and furrowed from time to time, his brain racking to figure out the problem. There had to be something…

Ira gasped sharply and reached for her arm, covering a bullet wound. Blood gushed out and began to leave a trail on the ground. Peter quickly turned to her, threw some webbing onto it, and eventually stopped it from bleeding out. A spark of amazement flashed across his features at his idea working, but quickly replaced with a look of determination to get to our destination.

A truck full of agents burst through the trees in front of us. All of us nearly collided with each other as we turned sharply to our right. Steve and I covered our six, while Peter and Ira lead the way. Steve lifted his shield to block bullets from hitting the group and I tried my best to keep the agents back far enough. Slowly, but steadily, we made our way to Xavier's safe house.


	11. Chapter 11

A week passed by faster than Tony could make a suit, which he says his record is a day and a half. Go figure. Xavier's safe house was just like I remembered it. The small, old cabin had some cobwebs on the inside and the door squeaked. One bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom were the only rooms in the cabin itself, all adorned with matching furniture. White cloths covered the items in the room from getting dusty and the wooden floors creaked below us. The musty smell made me nostalgic for a movie night in by the warm fire like Logan, Bobby, Kit, and I used to do.

My favorite part? The facial recognition scanner and pass code keypad hidden behind one of the panels in the wall. Some of the floor in the corner would move away, revealing a stair case leading to the basement. Dozens of rooms, a gym, a weapons vault, and even a lab hid underneath the whole cabin. Professor Xavier wanted a lot of children or X-Men to be comfortable if the occasion arose and they needed it. Right now, it was a blessing.

A cold chill flew through the air and squeezed between the cracks in the window to force its way into the room. The window frosted over from the white snow plummeting from the sky like tiny comets. A regular December storm raged outside, leaving us stuck in the cabin whether we liked it or not. Fire crackled in the fireplace and emanated heat into the living room. We reached the end of a conversation and enjoyed ourselves for once. We didn't feel the need to watch out backs or worry every moment. It felt great just to let go for once.

"I knew it!" Peter exclaimed happily and fist pumped into the air. He smiled widely and held out his hand towards Bruce and Tony. Both of them sighed, pulled out their wallets, and handed him ten dollars each.

"You bet on our relationship? Natasha questioned, a little offended, but yet intrigued. They were interested in their love lives enough to bet on it. She lifted a blonde eyebrow and almost glared at all of them.

Bruce chuckled and glanced at her. "It was just some fun on the side."

"I can't imagine you two together," Tony chimed in, disbelief echoing in his voice. He crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to the other foot. He was about to leave with Bruce and Peter to the lab below to fix their equipment.

Clint grinned at Natasha and stared at her with love in his eyes. "We work very well together." Natasha squeezed his hand a bit and rested her head on his shoulder. Her short blonde hair fell into her line of sight and covered her face.

"Speaking of work, we have to go," Tony gestured to the stairs leading to the basement. Peter and Bruce nodded and followed him down to the labs. They have been attached to that place since we got here and absolutely love it. The tech, the smell, the endless hours of sleep exhaustion, the science trio missed it all.

Ira fumbled with the armor on her arm and adjusted it to her liking. She cleaned and polished it firmly, her gray eyes following every stroke. She pushed her wavy black hair behind her ear to focus more.

The golden symbols on her cheek that trailed all the way to her forehead caught my interest again. I never got the chance to ask before, so might as well take this down time to do that now. "What do those symbols mean?" Her attention snapped down to where I was sitting on the floor. I reiterated, "The symbols on your face. What do they mean?"

She skimmed her purple skin until she found the gold markings and stopped. Ira put her armor in place and faintly smiled from the memory. "I was born with them. My mother used to tell me it meant _Shikohyna itolipatria munqueart_. In your language, it translates to _Fire briskly burning_. She explained to me it showed my persistence and passion." Ira turned her gaze to the fire in the fireplace, the orange glow lighting up her features.

"That's very beautiful," Clint commented as he played with Natasha's fingers. His eyes stayed on Ira, but she didn't turn back to meet his gaze.

Ira changed the subject and whispered, "What is Loki like now?"

I scrunched my eyebrows together for a second in curiosity. _Why is she bringing this up now?_ I questioned in my head. Clint shook his head at me, indicating he didn't want to answer. He probably had a few choice words to say about him, and none of them were good. I groaned internally and answered her, "He's a villain and wants to take over the world. He's ruthless, sassy, angry, revenge driven, psychotic…"

Clint cut me off once he noticed Ira's expression falling, "He's just a guy you don't want to mess with, Ira."

"He was not like that before…but the man I am in love with now is different. He is not angry, ruthless, or psychotic. I do not know what terms to describe him as, but I am glad I do not know the Loki you know. I have moved on from what I knew him as and hope to remain that way." Ira fell silent, which ended our conversation immediately. She stood up and left to her room downstairs to ingest the information.

My eyes wandered around the room until they fell on Steve, who scribbled away at his notebook. He brought his knees up to his chest, which made it easier to do whatever he was doing. His blue eyes scanned the opposite page and a small smile tugged at his lips. Steve brushed a hand through his short blond hair before continuing.

I became curious and crawled over to the spot next to him, sitting against the hard wall. My hand put my black hair behind my ear as I tried to get a peek at the page. "What are you doing?"

Steve closed the book quickly and shook his head. "Nothing."

I raised both eyebrows and gave him an Are-You-Serious look. "Steve." He studied me for a second, sweeping over my features until he sighed. He flipped passed a few pages and handed the book to me.

The pages were aged and more gray than they once had been. Pencil smears covered some parts of the paper, but became darker once it got to the picture. A man in a uniform slyly smirked at whatever he was looking at to his right. His hat covered almost all of his short black hair and tilted into his dark, warm eyes. His suit appeared freshly ironed and perfect, suiting him nicely in all the right places.

"Is that him…?" I asked in a whisper. My fingers grazed the page, nearing where the drawing was. I could imagine him like that. When I was at Hydra, he looked a lot more broken, unhappy, and intimidating. The drawing gave off a vibe that he was really nice or maybe even a big flirt. The way his gaze held, he might have been looking at Steve in a protective way. There were all these possibilities, but only Steve knew the real James Buchanan Barnes.

I turned the page and searched over the next drawing. Brown, curly hair fell over the figure's shoulders and she held her hand out, her fingers outstretched like she held an invisible bowling ball. I skimmed over the eyes, only to realize they were mine. The menacing glare stared right back at me, slightly covered by the rim of the black glasses. _This…this was what I looked like the day we met. Did he remember this a lot? How I wanted to hurt him if he interfered with my escape?_ "Steve…this is beautiful. I didn't know you could draw so well."

"Yeah, just something I do in my spare time," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously as a small blush bloomed on his cheeks.

"You have a lot of talents. I'm a little jealous."

He laughed and took the book away from me. "I have seventy years of using those talents to make up." He put the pencil on top of the sketch book and set it aside.

"I'll be as talented as you one day," I declared with confidence. I had the rest of eternity to find hobbies that I'm great at. If I focused enough, I could be even better than he is.

"Maybe in a couple hundred years," he snorted. I pushed him over playfully and scoffed. Steve put his hands up in defense and smiled, "You know I'm kidding."

I crossed my arms and huffed, "Whatever. I don't have the time to draw or sing anyway. We have a bad guy to catch. Remember?"

"If he's even still alive," he scoffed and grew quiet. That was always the remaining question in our lives. Was the villain still alive? Would they come back to try again? Would we be strong enough to fight back this time?


	12. Chapter 12

A couple hours later, I made my way from the security vault to my room. I fidgeted with the burner phone in my hand and clicked the numbers on the keypad. I looked around the hall as I put the phone to my ear. The tiled walls and floors were a bright white, but in the lighting, it appeared blue. A cold chill ran down my spine and I stopped by the thermostat to turn up the heat. The ringing echoed loudly in my ear until the receiver picked up the phone.

"Lilly?" Logan answered quickly, a little out of breath.

"Yeah, Logan, it's me. We're at the safe house. We had an unexpected surprise at Tony's place…got ambushed again…" I trailed off and tried to think of how we were attacked. No one knew we were there, unless the government suddenly became smart enough to check into Tony's past affiliations.

His rough voice cleared a bit and he exhaled, "I've been worried about you, kid. Not knowing where you're at or if you're captured again…"

I interrupted him after entering my room, "I'm fine. We're going to fix this…we have to." I brushed my fingers through my hair and sat down on the soft bed. If we weren't going to fix this, no one would.

"That's going to be a lot of convincing to the government, but I have faith in you."

I laughed for a few seconds and smiled softly, "Yeah…not looking forward to that." My fingers traced the outline of the bedside table lamp before turning it on, illuminating the room. The blue painted walls reminded me of the night sky and the gray carpeting felt soft against my feet. Only a dark wooden dresser sat against the wall and a chair in the opposite corner, leaving room to maneuver around for a quick exit if need be. "So, everything's okay over there?"

"Yeah. Everything is fine. We've been trying to stay out of trouble so we're not targeted next, but you know how _that_ usually works out," he chuckled lightly and a loud sound echoed in the background. He took a few sips of his drink, probably beer, and growled a bit. "Wanda and Pietro visited yesterday."

"How are they doing?" I quickly asked. My heart jumped at their names. I had only seen them a couple of times, but we talked a lot over the phone when I was in school. They helped on missions, I helped them on their research, it was a simplistic friendship to have.

"Fine." Logan grunted, "Apparently Magneto is trying to rebuild Genosha. I told him it failed once in the other timeline before it was altered. He said he's really adamant on building a city for mutants to live peacefully."

"Wow….okay…" I scratched the back of my head in thought. _Would that work this time, or would it meet its doom like the last? And even if mutants could live peacefully, there is always another force trying to break it up._ I waited for Logan to say something more about the twins, but he kept quiet about it. Tears tugged at my eyes and my heart ached. Being away from family, possibly risking their lives, and not knowing if I'd ever see them again really took a toll on me. Aunt May told me _Enjoy every day as if it were your last._ How could I do that when I haven't told them that I love them in person in so long? Did they know how much I cared? I wrapped up the call, "Can you please give Kit my number? I owe her an explanation. I'd love to keep talking to you, but I have to go. If something happens, I'll text you. Call me if something happens."

Logan's voice lowered in sadness and he sighed, "Alright, Lilly. I love you."

"I love you too." I hung up the phone and huffed. Phone calls were getting harder and harder to leave these days, but I would see them soon. I had to keep telling myself that or I would lose hope. I shot a text to Aunt May's phone and informed her about the situation.

Minutes later, my phone buzzed and received a picture message. Aunt May smiled at the camera, laugh lines surrounding her lips and crows feet in the corners of her brown eyes. Her wavy brown hair mixed with Amelia's long black hair. Amelia's brown eyes glistened in the light and her chubby cheeks puffed out as her lips spread out into a smile. A text message popped up underneath the picture, "Her first few months of Kindergarten were amazing. She won't stop talking about it."

Tears fell onto my face and I sniffled. I finally had alone time to grieve, release emotions, anything that I wanted. Right now, crying sounded like my best choice. I closed my eyes, whimpered to myself, and let it all out.

Tony walked by in the hallway and stopped when he saw me. A puzzled look settled on his face and it quickly melted into worry. He stepped into the room carefully and spoke up, "Are you alright?"

I swiftly wiped my tears away and sniffled. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" I blinked a few times to clear my reddening, swollen eyes. I turned away and backed up on my bed to cross my legs.

"You're crying, Lillybug," he declared in concern. Tony sat on the bed beside me and raised his eyebrows.

I glared at Tony for using Logan's nickname for me. "Remind me to kill Peter for telling you about that." Tony instantly chuckled and waited patiently for my answer. I added, "I was having a private moment, Tony."

His brown eyes locked onto my hazel ones and his expression softened. Tony's voice became clearer and calmer, "You can tell me."

The way he put his full attention on me…it seemed great. Tony usually multitasked or worked himself to near exhaustion to help with things like this. Maybe now that we were apart from his lifestyle, he took more time to get along with the team. I shook my head for a second before speaking, "You can tell the group is feeling just like I am. Guilty. Under the weather. There's no way around it. Clint stopped wanting to sleep, or complaining about it anyway. Natasha doesn't talk a lot anymore. Peter is still optimistic, but when he had his private moments, I know he just sat there and cried. He has a big heart…And Bruce seeing all that destruction on TV? Seeing the Hulk do all that? I know he feels bad. You can see it on his face. Steve hasn't been hopeful at times. And you…Tony, I just can't figure you out."

Tony shrugged and wiped some of my tears away. "Someone has to keep it together here, and that's me. We'll get through this." He stopped and held his hand there for a second, his eyes moving back and forth like he remembered something. He dropped his hand and looked down at the ground. "I'm not as strong as you think I am. I deal with…" He glimpsed back up at me, a part of him reluctant to say. "I deal with anxiety. I can't sleep. Constantly worrying. Always over thinking."

His face hardened and his jaw flexed. "Do you know why I stay up countless nights making those suits?" I shook my head for the sake of the conversation, and he continued, "I do it to protect the people I love and care about the most. I have this need to protect them at all times. If something goes wrong, I can fix it. But…" He paused and shrugged sadly. "But Pepper gets annoyed when I put too much effort into the suits. Sometimes, she even gets upset with me. I think to myself that next time she's going to leave me. I may act like an asshole, but it's only a defense mechanism. I have this nagging voie in my head telling me that all of my friends are slowly pushing me away. So, I push back. That's me when I'm being rude. And in reality…" he trailed off.

I finished his statement, "In reality, people aren't doing that and you're the only one pushing them away in the end." I sniffled again and moved the black hair out of my face. I watched Tony in worry. I never thought I would miss something so important to him…how could Tony have kept this under the wraps?

"Exactly. I don't want to lose anybody. Everything that I do is to protect them, not drive them away."

I sighed. This was the cold hard truth. "Tony, our actions will have consequences. Spend more time with Pepper. Go out with friends. Play chess with Jarvis. Do something. You can have a life and take time out of your day to try to protect the people you love. No one is going to leave you. I promise."

He rubbed his hands together nervously. "I can't help but to think they are. I feel powerless. No matter what I do, I'll always feel like I'm doing something wrong. I'm always worrying about what will happen next. I can't sleep. Everything is just a big mess."

"When did this start?" I questioned. Deeping digger into Tony's life gave me insight and improved our friendship. I felt much closer to him already.

"Right after we finished the Battle of New York," he simply answered.

I scooted closer to him and brought his attention to me. "You've saved people. Hell, you saved the entire planet."

"We didn't save the lives of the people in Chicago!" he snapped. The broken look in his eyes expressed how he felt so guilty, so hurt by our failure.

I retaliated, For months, we've been planning on avenging those lives. We're going to succeed."

"How many more lives is that going to cost?" Tony's face twisted and he spit out, "How many more people have to die for our recklessness? Did you not see that gaping portal into Asgard and the many soldiers marching out of it? They were there to _destroy_ the planet and take over. The nuke was a back up in case we couldn't save the people. You know what keeps going through my head? We were in the middle of it all. Of all the chaos. Of everything."

I could see what everyone had told me all this time. My guilt was not just mine. It was everyone's. Tony argued the same points I always brought up. Now I was on the other end of it. I opened my eyes and finally took in what those past conversations meant. "We still couldn't save them! We all feel how you feel. Powerless. The nuke was a wake up call and the government certainly has another thing coming." I had to change the subject. Get his mind off of this. Anything. I let my eyes wander the room and picked at my fingernails. "If I hadn't saved Amelia, I don't know what I would have done with myself…"

Tony calmed down and sat for a moment. The fresh tears in his eyes drew back when he blinked rapidly. "How is she?"

I showed him the picture Aunt May sent me and smiled. "She's going to Kindergarten now."

"They grow up so fast," he replied with a small smirk of his own. He touched the screen and grazed over Amelia's soft cheeks. He pulled his hand away and looked off into the distance.

"We couldn't save her parents, but I sure as hell am going to raise their child to everything they wanted her to be and more. It's the least I can do…" Tony slung his arm around my shoulder and rested on me. I played with my hands and whispered, "Tony, I can't have kids. That's why I'm so attached to Amelia."

Tony took my hand in his and didn't say anything. He pulled me close in a side hug and let the silence do all the talking. It felt comforting to have someone not freak out because of it. Tony didn't need words to convey his sorrow. It made our friendship that much stronger.


	13. Chapter 13

Darkness enveloped the room and the only light visible was the faint lighting in the hallway. I curled up into a ball in my cocoon of blankets on my bed and got comfortable. Something bothered me and wouldn't let me fall asleep. _How did S.H.I.E.L.D. know we were at Tony's place? How did they know where to look?_ Thoughts sped through my mind and I couldn't slow them down.

A dark figure lurked passed the door and down the other end of the hall. I got out of bed and followed them. If it was Peter or Clint, I could talk to them about me being bothered. I didn't want to wake up Steve, especially since he hadn't been getting a lot of rest lately. The figure walked out of the passageway leading upstairs and closed it behind them.

 _Odd…_ The thought drifted across my mind and faded away. I used a pink portal to get out to not draw any suspicion. None of us would have closed the passageway. That's too weird, especially since they could forget the pass code and be locked out. It was one in the morning. What could they be doing up?

The figure opened the door, and that's when I realized it was Ira sneaking out. She threw on a black jacket and walked out onto the fresh snow, closing the door behind her. I trailed far behind her, trying not to attract any attention. _This is going to be cold…_ My foot stepped out onto the white blanket of snow, but didn't sink in. I used my ice powers to keep the snow together under my weight as I walked to keep my tracks untraceable. I pulled my sweatshirt closer to my body to maintain warmth and refrained from sniffing from my nose. The cold nipped at it and irritated it, causing it to turn red.

The snow crunched with every step Ira took as she headed towards her destination. New Year's fireworks boomed in the distance, making her more jumpy than usual. She stopped when she saw a shadow in the distance, but as it got closer, she realized it was only a fox. She stayed in place for a second, narrowing her eyes and watched defensively until it walked the other way. Ira shook her head and continued on her plan. I hid behind a tree in the distance, but when she got to her destination, I snuck closer to inspect the scene.

She strolled into a small open area. White snow glistened in the moonlight as it covered the floor and the leaves in the trees around her. An owl made noises in the distance, but everything else was silent. She rubbed her hands together and huffed when she noticed she could see her own breath. Her eyes glanced around as if she were looking for someone. Ira grinned from ear-to-ear, showing her white teeth when she caught sight of him.

Loki.

Ira walked towards him quickly, each footstep longer than the last. Loki turned around upon hearing the noise and smirked slyly when he saw her. His blue eyes squinted, taking in every inch of her in admiration. His thin black hair seemed frosted into place by gel, sweat, or the cold. His pale skin radiated in the moonlight and revealed the sweat dripping down his forehead.

 _Sweat in this cold weather? He looks like a drug addict that needs a fix…_ I thought and hid behind a tree. Anger flashed through my mind, but I brought it down to a simmer. I needed a clear mind right now. Getting caught over doing something stupid would ruin everything. I've already gotten this far.

"I've missed you," Ira purred in content. She ran her fingers down his black and green coat and looked up at him.

Loki dismissed her comment and changed the subject, "How is your mission going? Any progress?"

Ira snorted, "My job couldn't be any easier. Finding their weaknesses was a breeze, although I do have to put up with their annoying qualities too." Ira crossed her arms and continued, "Clint is a slob in love with a female brute. Natasha calls herself a master assassin, yet she's oblivious to what side I'm on. Steve is a patriotic little shit. He thinks he knows everything and tries to do good, but he's still overcome by his past. Bruce is a hothead who can't keep his cool. He's a genius, but he doesn't really contribute to the team. Tony is selfish, however, he really does care about the team even if he doesn't show it often. That's his weakness. Peter is childish and he loves his dear cousin Lilly too much. And Lilly…" She trails off for a second and laughed, "she's an emotional walking time bomb that can be set off once we kill some members of the group."

 _Emotional walking time bomb?!_ My eyes narrowed and I clenched my teeth to keep at bay. _I can't believe she's working for Loki, of all people. How did he find her? How is he back on earth?_ A cold breeze picked up and blew through my hair, sending chills down my spine. I pinned myself against the tree to keep still.

Loki took in all the information and nodded. "Ah yes, the Black Widow. I had a delightful conversation with her once. She actually fooled me, but now I'm getting back at her. Tony? He thinks he is all high and mighty. Thinking that the Avengers will avenge the world once we've taken it over is a childish idea. We'll kill them before we start our reign." His icy eyes stared blankly at the forest for a few seconds before getting back onto the topic. "I had Hawkeye wrapped around my finger once. That's how I know some of their backgrounds."

"Oooooo, that's kinky," Ira winked and let out a small laugh.

Loki rolled his eyes and he wiped the sweat from his forehead. The muscle in his jaw twitched and his smile faltered. "You're doing great work. Keep it up."

He turned to leave until Ira spoke up, "Wait. This is the first time you've seen me in weeks, and you're just going to leave me?" She stood back and frowned, watching him stop in his tracks. She almost sounded hurt by his actions.

 _Of course she's hurt. She's still in love with this crazy guy._ I internally groaned. She was going to put up a fight later, but we had to be ready. I wanted to turn back to go tell the rest of the group so we could ambush her when she came back, but that wouldn't be the best idea. I had to see if Loki brought up any more of his plan. I had to stay here and follow her back.

Loki strolled back over to her and kissed her, quickly and full of power. She nearly swooned after he backed away, and Loki brushed the black hair out of her gray eyes. "I never truly leave you. I'm always with you in spirit. We just have to be separated to keep our cover. One day soon, we'll be inseparable." With that, he left out into the forest.

Ira stayed in her place for a second, running her fingers across her lips. She giggled to herself out of joy and watched his figure fade away into the shadows of the trees. She turned on her heel and headed back towards the safe house.

 _She's like putty in his hands._ I exhaled silently and followed her back. I made sure to keep my distance, but it seemed like she wasn't paying any attention at all to her surroundings. She looked like she was in a daze. _She must be thinking about him right now._ I thought and kept glancing around to make sure we were alone. I would hate for Loki to come back and find me tailing behind her.

Ira got inside and tripped over one of the chairs in the darkness before getting to the keypad. She cursed to herself and opened the passageway, making sure to close it behind her. Once I was new she was inside, I quickly made my way into the cabin and down the stairs using a blue portal.

I tiptoed over to my room once I heard the clicking sound of Ira's door shut. I closed the door and quietly sighed, my head reeling from her encounter with Loki. A slight tinge of pain and utter betrayal fluttered in my chest. _How could she do this to us? To Sif? To all of Asgard? She betrayed us all. And for what? For this…this villain?_ My hands curled up into fists and my eyes narrowed. _She won't get away with this._ I stood at the door for a second until I felt another presence in the room.

I twirled around and threw my fist at the person. They caught my hand and held it there before whispering, "Lilly, it's me."

"Steve?" I exhaled and dropped my hand to my side. _Jesus…I could have punched him where his wound was. Even if he had healed completely, it still would have hurt a lot._ I was only defensive because Mystique used to sneak into places all the time, and it had just become a habit to attack when someone wasn't made known to me. I turned the end table light on, illuminating only a small part of the room. The room only held common furniture like Tony had: a bed, a dresser, a chair and a desk. It was simple, yet inexpensive to put in every room. "Why aren't you asleep?"

He ignored the question. "Where have you been?" His eyes narrowed, making the bags under them more noticeable. Steve's blue eyes were red and irritated, and his face seemed pale. He crossed his arms over his chest and focused on me.

I diverted the conversation, "Why are you in my room?"

"I came in here and you were gone, so I stayed." He didn't move a muscle and studied me as much as he could.

I shifted my weight to my other leg and hesitated. _I have to tell him. I can't let something like this wait until the morning. He'd be so pissed at me, along with the rest of the team. But if I woke anyone else up now, that would be too suspicious. He's already here, so might as well tell him._ I contemplated. "I followed Ira out. She's a double agent and is romantically involved with Loki. She met with him and they're trying to find our weaknesses." Before I could say any more, Steve let out a small groan of frustration. "Look, I know. We can never catch a break. But, if we catch her off guard, we can capture her and find a way to make her tell us everything."

"We need…we need to tell the others," he said quietly and moved towards the door.

My hand latched onto his arm and held him back. "Let's get a good night's sleep for now. Loki is still close by. We don't want to trigger suspicion or anything." Steve nodded and sighed as he sat down on my bed. He stared at the wall blankly. It surprised me that he didn't have a rebuttal or a better idea. Something was bothering him. I sat down next to him, making sure to face him to show he had my undivided attention. "Why did you come in here? Is something wrong?"

Steve's eyebrow twitched for a second. He didn't move to speak until I put my hand on his. His lips parted, but he hesitated. "Everyone's either sleeping or drunk off their asses. I had no one else to turn to." A firework went off in the distance, booming loudly. He flinched and looked towards our hands.

"Oh, Steve…" I gasped softly. How could I not realize this before? He gets put into a flashback or paranoia enough…but I never took a moment to think of what kind of effect the fireworks could have on him. One of the guys I worked with in Hydra had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and would always be on edge when something loud occurred. I knew Steve showed symptoms of it, but he always bottled stuff inside. He could've had it all along and didn't share it with anyone to keep them from worrying.

Steve bit his lip and shut his eyes. "I just…I just keep thinking it's a tank firing at us or something…I grab my shield and have the urge to bring everyone together to protect them..." He trailed off and opened his eyes. His lip quivered until I pulled him into a big hug. I ran my fingers through his short blond hair, playing with the ends of it hoping it would help comfort him. He continued, "I get scared of losing everyone. I've already lost so much…" He paused, but then chuckled, "I hate not being able to enjoy it. It makes the night of my birthday a lot less pleasing."

I pulled back from the hug with a puzzled look on my face. "Steve Rogers, you are Captain America, one of the biggest symbols of freedom and righteousness for this country, and you were born on the same day this country was founded? You've got to be joking."

He laughed a little bit, even if some of it seemed forced. He was fighting through the pain. "I'm not joking. I was born on July fourth, 1918." Steve jumped as another firework went off and his face paled even more than it already was.

I lie down on the bed and moved to make room for him. "Come here." I had to distract him somehow, so I wanted to make him comfortable while getting his mind off of it. He was reluctant and a small amount of color swept across his features out of shyness. We didn't sleep next to each other while we were on the run, so this was new to him. I always slept next to Peter so Steve wouldn't feel uncomfortable. "Steve, it's okay. Lay down."

He did as I said and looked into my eyes when his head hit the pillow. His lips contorted into a frown. "I'm sorry, Lilly." The expression in his eyes, so lost and so broken, hurt me. He had no clue what to do or how to get through the night without freaking out. He was scared and had every right to be.

"No, no, don't be sorry. Don't apologize for this." I played with his hair more and it seemed to calm him down a bit. Without even thinking, I started singing, "I had a dream, dear. You had one, too. Mine was the best dream because it was of you." His expression softened a bit and he wrapped his arm around me to get comfortable. I remember he sang this to me while I cried after I told Peter I couldn't have children. It was extremely calming and sweet to hear simultaneously. I continued, "Come, sweetheart, tell me. Now is the time. You tell me your dream, and I'll tell you mine."

Another firework went off, causing Steve to pull me closer and shut his eyes. I sang the same verse again, hoping it would sound like a lullaby to him. He had me so close that my face was extremely close to his, making me nervous. He didn't even notice and fell asleep. I sat there for a few minutes, wishing I could kiss him. _That_ would definitely take his mind off of the celebration outside. We haven't had our first kiss yet, and the first was always nerve racking. After that, it would be a breeze. It was just another barrier to break down in our relationship, but that would have to wait until next time.


	14. Chapter 14

My breath hitched and my eyes opened sleepily. Last night's memories about Loki and Ira came flooding back to me, causing a headache to form in the back of my mind. Warmth enveloped my body, making my surroundings seem a lot hotter. I brushed the tangled black hair out of my face and felt someone's presence. I turned to them and leaned on my arm to prop myself up.

Steve's blue eyes gazed onto the ceiling as he lie on the bed in thought, or maybe even almost in a brooding way. He heard me move and glanced over at me, a small smile creeping its way onto his lips. "Good morning, beautiful," his voice scratched at his throat, making it raspy like he just woke up.

"Mornin' handsome," I whispered almost in a daze. I hadn't completely woken up yet, so everything almost seemed like a dream.

He cleared his throat. "Are you ready to tell the group?"

"No. Give me five more minutes right here," I lay my head on his chest and got comfortable. There was so little time to spend with him in this way, so close and personal, that I had to take advantage of it. His muscles tensed and relaxed at my touch.

Steve chuckled, "I like the sound of that." He wrapped his arm around me and kept the other behind his head. He relaxed and his eyes flickered back up to the ceiling. His thumb rubbed small circles on my back, leaving a calming feeling in me.

The scene from last night flashed across my mind. I remembered the pain, the hurt, and how much he trusted me to tell me all of it. This was the first time he's slept next to me. "Did you sleep well?"

"Surprisingly…yeah, except you kicked a lot in your sleep."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I can't control that. You get what you get. It comes with the whole package when you date me."

"I wouldn't trade you for the world," He didn't hesitate to answer and stopped his motions. Something about the way he said it made chills go down my spine.

His stillness confused me, and I peered up at him, coming closer than I originally thought. My face was mere inches in front of his, so close that I could feel his breath brush against my skin. "You really mean that?"

Steve realized how close we were and a small blush materialized on his cheeks. His body tensed up once again and his fingers started playing with the ends of his hair. His eyes skimmed over my eyes, my lips, and my eyes again. His words barely made it out in a whisper, "Yeah, I do." I took that as a sign to go for it and leaned in closer, grazing his soft lips against mine. So much build up, so many times this could have happened in the past, and now it was finally happening. It relieved me and made me nervous simultaneously.

The alarm clock buzzed, causing both of us to jump. Steve hit his forehead against mine on accident and we both groaned in unison. I backed away, cringing at the slight pain. It was a wake up call, that was for sure. Steve hit the snooze on the alarm and stood up, stumbling over his words, "We have to…uh…share…with group…" He blushed more and motioned towards the door before walking out completely.

I got dressed and I tugged the ends of my gloves to adjust them. I wasn't sure if Ira had powers, and since I hadn't touched her skin yet, I was still in the clear. We were having enough trouble with the government and Loki that I couldn't handle learning about a new power and how to control it. That would be too messy.

Clint waved at us from the couch in the training room. Bags curved underneath his eyes, showing how he wasn't getting much sleep. He smiled through the exhaustion and chuckled at what was said. He stopped his conversation with Peter and Bruce to turn to us. "You guys look like you've seen better days."

I rolled my eyes and gestured Natasha to come to the group. She punched and kicked the punching bag one last time before heading over to us. "Where's Tony?" I asked, glancing around the room to make sure we were the only ones there.

"Ask and you shall receive," Bruce spoke up and nodded towards Tony, who wandered into the room.

Tony's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and his mouth twitched up in a sly smile. "Did I really see Steve leave Lilly's room with bed head?"

"Is that right? Did he sleep in your room?" Peter questioned, a little disturbed look took over his expression. He shivered at the thought of it, half in a playful manner and half in disgust.

Nat added in a joking manner, "I bet they did more than just sleep." She winked and laughed, but deep down she knew Steve wasn't that kind of guy. It was fun to mess with him, though.

Steve blushed furiously and I changed the subject by using sign language. _Ira is a traitor._

 _Whoa, wait. A traitor?_ Clint signed quickly. _How do you know that?_

Bruce chuckled to himself. _Another crazy? She showed some real hostility towards some of us. Can't say I'm surprised._

 _Lilly found her meeting Loki in the woods._ Steve moved his hands slowly.

I added onto what he said. _She's been a double agent the whole time. She's deceived all of Asgard and us. Ira's got intel on all of us…our weaknesses, who we're close to the most, everything._

Tony threw in his thought. _Here we were worrying about what was chasing behind us and never thought about to look within the group, or the new person at least. We were all outsmarted by Loki's little minion._

 _So what's the plan? Twist this all around and capture her for interrogation?_ Natasha questioned. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, waiting for confirmation from someone.

 _That sounds like the only plausible thing to do._ Steve nodded and signed.

 _She's in…_ Peter stopped mid sentence and looked passed Steve and I. All of us whirled around to see Ira standing in the doorway.

"Why is everyone so quiet in here? Did you start a group meeting without me?" She questioned and tilted her head. Her short black hair sat clipped up onto her head and her gray eyes watched all of us carefully.

 _Busted._ Peter signed and glanced around the group in defeat.

Steve's attention focused on the alien completely, "Ira-"

Tony cut him off, "Cut the crap, Ira. We know you're working for Loki."

"Way to keep it subtle, Tony," Bruce sighed. He stayed back while everyone stood on guard to make sure the Hulk wouldn’t be unleashed.

All of us rolled our eyes at Tony's forwardness and waited to see Ira's reaction. Her facial expression didn't change, but her face darkened. "I am working for Loki, but I am _not_ loyal to him. I am spying on him to see what he is up to. Sif sent me here to assist you, not the enemy."

"I heard what was said, Ira. You can't fool us anymore," I narrowed my eyes at her and focused on her. All of us stood frozen for a few seconds, anticipating her next move.

Ira glared at us and dove to get anything to use as a weapon. Natasha and Clint took the first initiative to attack. They double teamed Ira before she could get a hold of the bench in the corner and circled around her. Ira glanced between both of them, waiting for the first punch. Natasha kicked her in the stomach and elbowed her in the back, but Ira countered and threw her aside. Clint punched her in the jaw and knocked a tooth out, but she elbowed him in the face, sending him into a daze. Natasha jolted back up and went to pop one in Ira's face. She lunged backwards and Natasha's fist came into contact with Clint's nose, breaking it in half. Nat covered her mouth as blood spouted out of her lover's nose, sending him backwards.

Peter came in and went for a punch. Ira grabbed his arm, twirled him around, and threw him into Natasha, making both of them fall to the floor. Adamantium claws launched out of my knuckles and I sprinted towards her. I slashed her arm and went for her abdomen, but she dodged quickly and the claws got stuck in the wall. I put my foot against the wall to create force against it, but they wouldn't come out. I twisted them in the walls, hurting myself as I did.

Tony pushed the punching bag towards Ira and swiped his leg underneath hers. Ira hit the mat and groaned slightly. The punching bag flew off its hinges, allowing Steve to get a hold of the metal chains at the top. He used his strength to crush the chains into handcuffs and tied them together. Natasha pinned Ira down, flipped her over, and put her hands behind her back. Steve bound her hands and lifted her up. She writhed and tried to escape his grasp, but he held on tightly.

Steve took her to one of the smaller rooms used for holding any hostile people. Since Mystique used to come in and wreak havoc, Professor X put in a sort of panic room to place people in when they got out of hand. Ira fell onto the concrete floor and glared at Bruce and I entered the room. Steve closed the door behind him as he exited.

She spit out some blood after sitting up, "Do you know why you are here right now?" We waited patiently for her to answer, which only irritated her more. "Because I expected you to get captured by the government, or die by the spray of bullets they let out. I should not have underestimated you."

I scowled, clenching my hands into fists, "You're the one that led them to us?" _No surprise there. I knew there was someone following us, but didn't think it would be her._

Ira laughed, making her hair fly about her face. Her icy eyes locked onto me as a creepy smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "It was not difficult."

"What's the end game? You two rule the world? How does you being undercover help that cause? What are you going to do to us?" I interrogated her in a stern tone. I wanted to know everything before she got out of our grasp.

She ignored everything and turned her glare to Bruce. Her words swept around the room like a cold wind, "Your mother was murdered because of you. Your dad was jealous of her love for you, and he killed her for it." She wanted to twist the situation around and get the attention off of her. Clever.

Bruce's eye twitched and his jaw clenched. His face slowly turned darker shades of pink. It took a few seconds until he could manage words to push passed his lips, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

I tried to reel the conversation back in. "Why does Loki want to know our weaknesses? Doesn't he already know them? Why does he need some pathetic minion to do his bidding?" I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at her.

Ira didn't care and moved back onto Banner. "You were a child. How could you remember? She loved you more than anything. She gave her life for _you_. Your father was a drunk and a failed scientist. Maybe you were meant to follow in his tracks," Ira shot back.

"Shut up!" Bruce yelled, slamming his fists onto the wall. The piece of wall crumbled under his force and caved in.

"Shut up? Just like your mother did when she died? Just like how your secret girlfriend will when Loki strangles the life out of her?" Bruce stayed put for a second until she continued, "Elizabeth Ross….or, you know her as Betty."

Bruce's nostrils flared and his skin turned a bright red. "You hurt her, and I swear to god…"

"What? You'll kill me? Yeah, right," she scoffed. Her eyes held a small gleam of entertainment, even when her face blanked.

Something about her wasn't adding up to me. _How did she know that and we didn't? There's no way he would have confided in her._ I noticed how angry Bruce was getting and dragged him out of the room. Unleashing the Hulk was exactly what Ira wanted, and being underground was dangerous enough. "You need to calm down. She's messing with you."

"How did she know that? All of that is confidential…" He contemplated for a second and tapped his foot. His hand scraped against the scruff on his face and he grinded his teeth in anger. "Nobody knows about Betty. Not even you guys."

I was about to say something until a loud boom came from the room. Both of us jolted from our spots and opened the door. The whole room reeked of iron as blood dripped from the walls. Organs and pieces of Ira hung everywhere, drenching the room in a gross mess. Teeth and hair pieces scattered around the floor and her clothes lie there in the blood puddle. Bruce almost upchucked and stood against the wall, looking at the empty hall rather than the room. Everyone rushed over to see what had happened and I backed away. My stomach dropped and I felt sick.

Peter was the first one that managed to say something, "She has the power to self detonate? That's awesome!" Everyone raised an eyebrow and side-glanced at him, not wanting to reply to his comment. "What? It is!"

Clint furrowed his brow and closed the door. "She's still alive, right?"

"I'm not even sure," Bruce answered truthfully and cleared his throat. "Maybe it's like a video game. She kills herself and spawns somewhere else."

"If any of that works, that is," Tony put his fist in front of his mouth to keep it semi closed, not wanting to get sick all over us.

Steve hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. The next words that came out of his mouth sounded like he was in defeat, "So in other words, she's gone."

"Yeah, and to who knows where. She's going to tell Loki that we know," Natasha contributed. Her face paled and she turned away, not wanting to think of the scene.

My mind raced and the headache started forming again. _The ability to blow up? So what? Can she wake up somewhere else? Is she gone forever? No…I don't think so._ I threw my hands up into the air in defeat and sighed. "How come we always get so close to winning and then something like this happens? The tide has changed and the odds aren't in our favor anymore."

Peter shrugged. "Well, we have to change that."

"Change the odds? How?" Natasha looked back at the group and watched us carefully. We all felt as sick as her about this, but we had to do something.

Clint clapped his hands together and his voice raised to give a little life to the surrounding area, "Well, let's start planning and find out."


	15. Chapter 15

"So what are we going to do? Sit here and wait while Loki and his damn mistress try to take over the world?" Tony questioned, leaning against the wall of the living room while looking over at all of us. His short brown hair appeared fluffy and his dark brown eyes didn't lock onto anything in particular. "Jarvis is tracking them right now while I charge my suit. We have time to think."

Bruce left the room at the mention of Ira's name. He couldn't handle it right now. "Our plan should be attacking," Natasha brought up. She played with the wine glass in her hand and drank the rest of her drink.

"We should be telling the government," Peter added sternly. He plopped down on the couch and played with his hands agitatedly.

Clint set Ira's notebook down. The whole thing was written in her language and there was no way in Hell he could translate it. He rubbed his temples. "Telling the government would only make things worse. They would twist it and make us seem like the bad guys here."

"We're getting nowhere if we don't act now," she responded rapidly, not missing a beat. She brushed her blonde hair behind her ear and watched us.

Steve set his hand on my knee and looked at me. He could see my stress. His blue eyes wandered away and spoke up, "Barton is right. We don't even know where they are."

"When we find them, we can make our way there and attack. Until then, we need to know what to do now," I contributed and put my hand on Steve's. His fingers were cold against my warm hand. I pushed my glasses up my nose and found Natasha raising an eyebrow at me.

Tony picked his drink off of the coffee table and took a sip. He started laughing quietly, then louder and louder each second. The group sent him questioning looks and he wiped his mouth. "We shouldn't have trusted her. Since when do we trust anyone?"

"We trust new people. It's who we are," Steve countered. His body tensed up and his eyes locked onto Tony. His lips formed a tight line.

"Maybe that's what we need to change. Put up a front so people that come and lie to us are stuck at the gates," Natasha declared in a solemn tone. She played with the arrow necklace she had on and bit the inside of her cheek.

I scoffed. "That's who we're going to be? Heartless heroes who don't give everyone a fair chance?"

"Oh god," Peter dragged his hands down his face and sighed. "Here we go."

"Oh, you want to go there?" A sense of pain took over her features, but she wiped it and put on a straight face. Natasha stood up and slowly walked towards me. "We aren't all experiments like you, Lilly. We didn't get to be made and then thrown into a good life with a family. We aren't some overpowered _freak_ that can trust everyone so easily because in the end, one of us is going to get killed, and it's going to be your fault."

Clint tried to reach out for her, but she dodged him. "Natasha."

I winced at the emphasized word and my heart ached. _I never thought she'd be the one to snap at me like this. I always thought it would be Banner or Tony._ "Someone seems like they've been holding quite a few thoughts back. Go ahead, Nat. Say what you think. It's not going to change the fact that we are sitting ducks here in the safe house my family of _freaks_ owns. If you're looking to diss someone, I suggest you should aim some of this at Loki and Ira. They're the bad guys here."

"You want to hear it? Fine. I've pent up all these thoughts and emotions just waiting for you to screw up. I tried to befriend you, and I like to think I succeeded. A part of me thinks I only did it to get dirt on you. The more I got to know you, the more I found out that you are a very temperamental child that has to get her way. You hate being wrong and are always trying to pick a fight when we discuss plans." I got up as she continued and met her in the middle of the room, face to face. "I saw what you did to that Hydra agent on the roof. You tore her apart from the inside. Even Logan looked at you like you were a _monster._ If Peter hadn't sent me out that day to rescue you, you'd be dead, or worse, being tortured and cut open like the experiment you are."

My jaw clenched and I glared at her. My heart cried out in pain from her words stabbing it repeatedly. Somehow…she was right. I had just moved on from thinking it was true and accepted it. My hands heated up and red flames danced across my fingertips. I tilted my head and didn't wince when she pulled out her gun and aimed it at my heart.

The men in the room jumped up from their spots. Yelling started booming off of the walls, cutting through the thick tension in the air. Steve and Clint tore us apart and we resisted, but eventually settled down. Barton took the gun from Romanoff's hand and put it in the back of his pants.

Tony scoffed, "You really have to break off a cat fight? A _cat fight_? Come on." He smiled and playfully added, "Let them go at it. It'll be fun."  

Clint and Steve rolled their eyes simultaneously. Barton leaned over and whispered into Natasha's ear. Nat's green eyes locked onto mine and a flash of care swept over them. Her jaw clenched, her facial expression still as intimidating as ever. Steve gave me a stern look and I backed off. My hands were shaking from anticipation. It had been a while since I fought, and it sounded like exactly what I needed. I was itching for a fight, but going against the group was something I couldn't do.

"Look, we have to join together, not fall apart. Put yourselves together and be friends again. We don't have time to mess around," Steve ordered and glanced between both of us.

"Hug it out. Hug it out," Peter chanted and chuckled lightly.

Natasha and I didn't take our eyes off of each other. We huffed and slowly moved towards each other. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me to her. I rested my hands on her back and put my head on her shoulder. She smelled of a strong musk, most likely one of Barton's colognes. "I'm sorry," we both muttered.

 _Is she really sorry, or is she just saying that to get the boy's off of her back?_ I thought and my stomach twisted inside of me. _Did she really mean all of those things…?_

"Aw, what a Kodak moment," Tony teased. Both of us glared at him and backed away. "What?" He raised an eyebrow at our hostility.

Clint threw his hands up in the air. "Well, we all need a break. Anyone up for food? A movie? Something?" Everyone remained silent and he shrugged. "We need to relax. Take the stress off."

"Clint, always thinking of food," Peter laughed and headed towards the door. He licked his lips, "I'm down for that. It sounds good."

Barton rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to take care of my friends, all right? I can be serious, Peter." He put his hand on Peter's back and walked out of the room. All of us glanced at each other before following them out.

 

Blink.

Why did things have to be so complicated?

Blink.

We thought we were on the right track, and look where we ended up. We're vigilantes working to help a country that doesn't want to be saved.

Blink.

I stared at the blinking light on the computer, which was the only thing I could see. My door was closed, trapping the room in a heavy darkness. I moved around my bed, unable to get comfortable. My mind reeled with disappointment and confusion. _She betrayed us. All of us. Ira knows our weaknesses, the X-Men's safe house, and about Bruce's girlfriend._

Blink.

 _How did she know, but we didn't? It…_ Something clicked in my mind. My stomach dropped at the sheer thought of it. _S.H.I.E.L.D. must have given the government all of their files. That would mean Loki has a pawn stationed within the government._

Blink.

My heart constricted in my chest. _I was a fool to trust her._

Blink.

Yelling emerge from the next room over. I jolted up from my position and headed toward the source. No one was in or out of this place, so what was happening? Worry filled my mind as I found who was in pain.

Bruce curled himself up into the fetal position, knees tucked up to where they barely grazed his chest. He resembled a giant clenched fist, huddled so tightly in position that it almost looked like it hurt. He muttered words, jumbling them together out of confusion and exhaustion.

I began to walk forward until someone held me back. "Don't. You'll wake him up," Tony whispered. His short black hair fluffed up as if he had been running his hands through it. His brown eyes were red from a lack of sleep, almost pleading me to not do anything stupid.

"That's the point!" I raised my whisper voice and tried to yank his rough hand off of my arm. Why would he let him suffer? Bruce took on enough in life. He deserved a good night's rest during stressful times like these.

"No, he needs space."

I narrowed my eyes and settled down, "Why? Have you even tried helping him?"

Tony got defensive quickly, his face falling into a stern expression. His words hit me like daggers, " _Of course we have._ Clint went in there once and almost got _killed_ by the big guy. If you go in there, the same could happen to you."

I stopped in my effort to help and looked at Bruce. His face scrunched up in anger and his jaw clenched. My eyes flickered back to Tony, who waited for me to understand the imminent threat of that scenario. I slunk back against the wall and crossed my arms. "How often does this happen?"

Tony hesitated, trying to calculate the nights. "Few times a month, if not more. We have to let him sort it out himself. Intervening only makes it worse."

I bit my lip and sighed. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Of course," he put on a fake smile and patted my arm. "I'll make sure of it. We just can't bring this up to him. None of us brought it up when he moved in, and we're not going to start now."

"Fine," I stated.

"It only happens when he's stressed or hasn't eaten a lot. Other times, it's because of both. The combination really agitates the Hulk. He's used to eating three meals in one sitting and getting his way. We just have to let Bruce work it out himself."

I hung my head and exhaled loudly. Bruce didn't deserve this. He's an innocent man who got caught up in all the wrong things. The only good out of this is he's a monster turned hero. "I wish I could help him…"

Tony set his hand on my shoulder in a comforting way. He glanced away and looked towards the other end of the hall where his room was. "Get some sleep."

"I can't," I blatantly spat out.

He countered the statement swiftly, "Try. We're going to need you energized if something happens." Tony turned on his heels and headed towards his room.

 _If something happens? More like when something happens…_ I stood there for a second, trying to make sense of everything. What to do next. How to deal with Loki and Ira. What their plan is. How we counter it while straying away from the American government. It all hurt my head.

I strolled over to Peter's room and cracked the door again so the hall light wouldn't flood in. My hands picked up a chair and set it by his bed. I sat down, ruffling my hair and glancing over at Peter. He was sprawled out, drooling all over his pillow in the process. His hand twitched as it hung over the side of the bed, his fingers curling up tightly.

I needed to protect him. It wasn't just a feeling. It was a mission. Peter meant a lot to me and Hell would freeze over before I let _anything_ happen to him. I also promised Aunt May I'd protect him. He's one of the best things that have happened to me so far. My cousin. My best friend.

Peter's been through so much just like I have. He's lost his parents at once, gained new powers, and tried to make his love life work and failed. He's gone through so much and I don't know what I would do if I lost him. He understands me more than Steve does and holds a special place in my heart.

There's this feeling inside of me…some horrible calling, like an omen. I cringed and shoved it aside. Loki and Ira were going down, and we sure as hell weren't losing anyone to fools like them.

My eyes drooped to a close and sleep finally took over.


	16. Chapter 16

"Lilly."

Silence.

"Lilly, wake up!" Peter's voice echoed in my mind, and I thought I was dreaming for a second. Everything was so peaceful…so serene. Calmness had finally taken over my mind and relieved me of the burden worry had casted upon me. I felt like a child again, sleeping the night away without a care in the world. No responsibilities, no chores, no stress.

Then Life slapped me in the back of the head. Or, well, Peter pinched my arm. Close enough, right?

I winced and scowled at him, "What?" My neck cracked loudly as I lifted it from the cushion of the seat, making me feel a bit better. My body had tensed up again out of habit and I shut my eyes once more.

"What are you doing in my room?" He asked as he sat up in bed. He stretched his arms out and yawned accordingly. Peter's brown hair was still as messy as it was before I passed out and his tired brown eyes looked at me in confusion.

I realized I needed to respond. It was too early for this… "I couldn't sleep," I groaned in irritation and rubbed my eyes. Sleeping in a chair never felt so good before.

"Well, you did a great job at not sleeping," he joked with a playful smirk.

"Shut up."

Peter chuckled. He loved playing around and acting childish. It seemed almost like a backup mechanism to cope with all of his stress. "So you slept in here?"

I nodded. "I was just making sure you were okay." My eyes opened to find him staring right back at me.

His eyebrows scrunched together and he tilted his head out of habit. "Lilly, of course I'm okay. Is there something bothering you?" I didn't answer him and propped my head up on my hand. Peter scooted towards the edge of the bed in front of me and rested his elbows on his knees. He asked again, "What's wrong?"

I watched him for a second before speaking, "I'm just worried I'm going to lose you. You mean a lot to me, Peter. A lot…"

He glimpsed down at the ground and shook his head. His gaze shifted back up to me, but I quickly looked away. "Lilly, you aren't going to lose me. You're stuck with me for life. I'm not going to give up on you."

"Okay…" I trailed off.

"Look at me." I complied and he set one hand on my knee. "With my luck, I'd lose you before you lose me."

If this was a way to comfort me, it wasn't going to work. I could just come back to life…but I wasn't going to argue about this. Somehow…what he said was true. "I am pretty reckless. You're probably right."

"Give me a smile." He waited patiently and I wouldn't do it. "Give me a smile, Lilly." Peter reached for my sides and tickled me. He began laughing softly in pure amusement.

I didn't laugh at first until he kept on tickling me, then I let it out. I laughed loudly and screeched, "Stop! Okay, stop!" I slid out of my chair and crumpled to the floor, but the suffering didn't end there. He didn't stop and when I swatted his hands away, he aimed for the sides of my neck. I cringed and laughed hysterically, trying to retaliate by kicking him away. The more I laughed, the more Peter did the same. Soon, I managed to push him and he landed on the ground next to me.

Peter lay there for a second, staring up at the ceiling as if it were the sky filled with stars. Our laughing died down shortly after. He looked at me and snickered, "It's been a while since you've laughed like that."

I exhaled. My stomach hurt from laughing and I was sure my face was beat red. I clutched my stomach and coughed for a second. "Yeah, same with you." I caught my breath before continuing, "Thank you for being my best friend, Peter."

"Aw, I'm your best friend?" He questioned in a sweet voice. I pushed his face in the other direction, making him laugh again. He added, "Thanks for being there for me."

Clint walked into the room and went to say something before he found us on the floor. He raised an eyebrow, but quickly dismissed the confusion. He pointed towards the hall, worry clear in his voice, "You guys need to see this."

Peter and I nearly raced each other into the living room where the television was located. The rest of the group was already huddled around it, watching the news in pure dissatisfaction.

Loki and Ira.

They were killing off high-ranking politicians in government, one by one. Forty dead, many others wounded. The short video clips from surveillance videos showed him in possession of the scepter. He must have gotten it back after attacking the government. Loki looked the same from the last time I saw him: smug smile, cold, blue eyes, and jittery. The woman on the broadcast uttered words about the police identifying Ira and associating her with us. The last clash we had with the agents had been caught on tape and select footage was given to the news broadcast stations. They were assuming Ira and the Avengers were working together, so now the Avengers were too big of a threat to ignore anymore. This was an act of terrorism and treason against our country.

I put my head in my hands. Steve walked over to me and rubbed my back with his hand, drawing small circles in a soothing motion. _And I thought things couldn't get any worse than Ira betraying us._

"Sir, Loki is located in Alexandria, Virginia," Jarvis spoke up from Tony's cell phone.

Tony seemed a little surprised. We hadn't heard Jarvis speak in a couple of days, much less randomly from Tony's phone. He responded, "Thanks, buddy. We'll take it from here." He put the phone in his pocket and glanced at all of us, whose eyes were still glued to the television.

I lifted my head and huffed, "So, what now?"

"We have to prove we're not working with them," Steve replied. His hand started drawing swirls on my back.

"How? How could we possibly do that?" Bruce piped up. He ran his hands through his curly hair stressfully and sighed. "They suspect we're working together. If we cause more chaos by trying to help, they might see it differently than we do."

Clint shook his head at one of the possibilities. "And if we try talking to them, they're just going to imprison us again."

"I…I don't know…" Steve furrowed his brow and paused. The situation just became more complicated, if that were even possible. He bit the inside of his cheek and thought for a moment. For the first time, Steve wasn't quick on his feet. All the possibilities added up, but not in our favor. There had to be some way…

"Great…just what we need. More things to worry about," Clint said and sat down in one of the chairs. He dragged his hands down his face and took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee.

"This is rather odd…" Jarvis mumbled through the phone. Tony took his phone out and set it on the table. J spoke again, "There are massive readings of heat coming from one of the buildings in Alexandria…Seems to be enough bomb power to level a whole city block…"

"Add one more thing to your worry list, Barton," Peter grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest.

Natasha ripped her eyes from the television and walked towards the middle of the group. She gave us all a pointed look and ordered, "We're going to Alexandria, now."

"With what? How? It's going to take days to smuggle ourselves back into the U.S. again," Tony pointed out. He finished off his breakfast and set his napkin on the plate in frustration.

I blinked a few times before realizing something. "They keep some spare jets here in case we need them…Thank you X-Men for always being so prepared. The last jet blew up because of Deadpool, so keeping extra on hand seemed like the smart thing to do." I stood up and led the group to the very back end of the hall. I opened the door and turned the lights on, revealing three spare jets capable of holding ten people each. They were smaller than the regular Avengers quinjet, but it was enough to get us there. "The builders had the help of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman to make the jets become invisible to the eye when needed. It's a modification that seems to work for us, similar to the ones used on the helicarriers in S.H.I.E.L.D.."

"And you kept this from us, why?" Tony raised an eyebrow, but quickly smirked. "I really have to talk with some of the tech guys at your school. I'd love to have an inside connection with Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. I tried calling, but her idiot of a brother won't tell them to return my calls."

I laughed and nodded. "Johnny can be a handful sometimes. I'll see what I can do, but first, we have matters to attend to. Meet me here when you've gathered your stuff and we'll leave."

 

Steve and Bruce stayed behind and found a small apartment to make our base in Alexandria. Bruce didn't want to go into combat just yet and Steve wanted to plan our next move. Tony input Jarvis' system into the jet, giving him full control. I gave J coordinates back to the safe house, so he could put it back safely and ready for the next time someone needed it. Having the jet came in handy, however, we had nowhere to put it in the city.

"Jarvis, where are the bombs located?" Tony questioned in a rush. He pulled the car we had borrowed into the back parking lot of the building. He stepped out and jumped into his suit, while the rest of us piled out of the car.

We didn't have our regular getups for fighting, so all we had were regular clothes on. Natasha straightened out her slick black clothes. Clint demanded he wore purple clothing and passed it off as, 'he looked great in that color'. Peter wanted to stick with his original blue, black, and red. I had chosen a dark blue shirt and black pants that were easy to move in. We looked like normal…Actually no. If anyone were to see us on the street, they would know it was us. We were pretty obvious.

Jarvis calculated how many bombs there were and found his signal somewhat jammed. The government must have finally realized Stark's satellite was still in use. "I think there are bombs on the top floor and in the basement, sir."

"Thanks Jay." Tony fully suited up and it powered up, lighting up the eyes and the core in the middle. He pointed towards the front of the building, "I'll sweep the outside to make sure the bombers aren't here anymore. Then, I'll keep away whomever tries to come inside. _I_ get the fun job."

All of us rolled our eyes and nodded. Natasha's face hardened in determination. "Peter and I will take the basement. You two take the top floor." Her eyes looked lovingly at Clint and then glanced passed me, ignoring me completely. She drew her pistols and made her way inside with Peter following close behind.

I grit my teeth. _She still feels that way about me? After all those times we bonded and I listened to her? Did my friendship mean nothing to her?_ My hands heated up again and I quickly ceased it. Starting a fire in the building was the _last_ thing we wanted. I didn't want to give Natasha a reason to hate me.

Barton pushed the button on a small nun chuck-looking stick and it unfolded into a bow. He grabbed an arrow from the hidden quiver under his jacket. I told him it would look ridiculous and fake, but he just had to prove me wrong. It actually blended in quite well. He walked inside and went up the stairwell quickly, but carefully.

I watched his six and kept close behind him. When we reached the tenth story, we looked around for potential places the bombs would be. The building seemed to be an office space for a tech company. Desks in cubicles were everywhere, adorned with computers on top. Papers were strewn about and chairs thrown around. The bombers must have had the workers evacuate the place before setting up shop.

"It's all clear out here," Tony reported in through the earpiece. "How's it looking in there?"

"Clear. No bodies. It's as messy as your lab, Stark," Clint remarked with a small smirk. He glanced back at me playfully and got a smile from me in return. Barton was always so nice.

Tony scoffed. "Su-" He fell silent for a second and yelling could be heard on his end. "Hey! Don't shoot! We're here to take the bombs out! We can't protect the city with you shooting at us."

"Tony? What's going on out there?" Peter asked.

"Police are here and the news reporters are having a field day. Hurry up and get your asses out of there. I'll keep them busy," Tony concluded and stopped talking. Comms went quiet from then on out.

I located the bombs underneath one of the desks and pointed it out to Barton. He nodded and inspected it gently. When he deemed it safe, he took the top off and peered inside. Seven different colored wires stared back at him, and he groaned. I raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Can you disarm it?"

"Yeah, I can. Do you doubt my skills?" I rolled my eyes in reply and he chuckled, "Make sure there aren't any other bombs here. If there are, I can walk you through it." He focused on the wires and went to work.

I checked underneath all the desks, some twice over, and found another bomb in the cabinet in the corner. "Got another one." I kneeled down and did exactly what I watched Clint do while inspecting it.

"Open it," he ordered. "The first line you have to cut is yellow."

"Yellow…got it," I replied and cut it with one of my sharp claws. I trusted Clint with my life, so the nervousness hadn't surfaced yet. I pushed my black hair over my other shoulder so I could get a better look at the bomb.

"Then black."

Check.

"Green." I went to cut the green before he started yelling in my ear, "No! Not green! The red wire."

Maybe I shouldn't have trusted him so much.

"Purple is last. That should do it," he sighed in relief. He leaned back and put a hand to his ear to adjust the earpiece. "Nat, what's your status?"

Her voice scratched over the microphone, "Dismantled three bombs down here. They're remote controlled, so the bombers aren't far. We're heading outside now."

"But, if they aren't far, then they were waiting for us," I started off and my eyes widened. "This was a-"

_Boom._

The whole building shook like an earth quake just hit. Glass from the windows shattered and spewed all around as if it were smoke emerging from a hot geyser. There must have been bombs in the middle of the building that Jarvis couldn't detect. In that case, we couldn't get out of the building in time. If I used my portals, we could end up right where the bombs are going off or falling out of the sky. I don't know which is worse.

"Trap…" I finished my statement in defeat.

"I have sights on Peter and Natasha," Tony yelled through the earpiece.

_Crash._

Another bomb went off, creating a chain reaction of chaos. "Take them and go!" I screamed into the mic and motioned Clint to hide under the metal desk. We were in the worst spot. The room had no windows and the closest, fastest exit was too far. We would get crushed in a heartbeat. The walls started crumbling fast and things began to sink through from the floor above. Dust rained from the ceiling and all the loud noises made my ears ring.

Clint threw his earpiece aside, slid under the desk, and made sure all his limbs were safe. I pushed myself against him as much as I could, getting my torso barely underneath. He quickly wrapped his arm around my stomach to hold me in place while I put my hands on the underside of the desk. I used my powers to keep the metal in the desk together, along with an effort to hold the metal in the flooring together. Fire, heat, dust, ash, it all gathered around us as the bombs continued to explode. Clint's grip tightened, his breathing becoming more staggered by the second. His heart rate jumped up and I knew fear was coursing through him. I screamed out in pain as the power strained my muscles and brain. It took seemed like too much to handle, but I had to do it. Barton's life was on the line, and I wasn't going to let him down.

The building collapsed, bringing us along with it.


	17. Chapter 17

Tiny rocks stumbled down the debris pile, clinking anytime it hit metal. The dust finally settled and everything calmed down. My ears still rang to the point where I couldn't hear my own breathing, but it slowly died down as I regained consciousness. My fingers twitched and I opened my hazel eyes, which felt heavy like lead.

The first thing I noticed was the big shield around the desk. It glowed blue and felt sticky to prevent anything from getting inside. I guess my powers registered the fact that the possibility of our survival was minimal and kicked in. It didn't help everything, though. I tried to move my legs and couldn't. They were pinned underneath the rubble. I couldn't feel them at all, and a fear of panic swept through me. Blood started to seep through the rocks and soak into my pants, creating a small puddle.

I tried to sit up and winced from all of my injuries. My head spun from the lack of energy; using all of that power to keep everything in tact around us drained me. I felt off balance, so I reached up to my ear to check it. The earpiece was still in my ear. _God damnit…._ I thought and pulled at the piece of technology. It had melted onto my ear, stripping the top layer of my skin off as I ripped it out. I choked down the cry of pain and looked over to see if Barton was okay.

Clint curled up into the fetal position as much as he could and his head rested against the desk. The ends of his brown hair were singed and his red skin showed against the glow of the shield. His breathing became shallow and his eyes moved behind his closed eyelids.

An agonizing bolt of pain surged up my side and I gasped for air. My eyes wandered down to my stomach, finding a three inch thick metal rod sticking out of my skin. I set my hands on the rod and prepped myself before I yanked it out. A scream snuck passed my lips and I threw it aside. Blood rose and started to drench my clothing, getting all over my hands when I tried to cover it up.

Clint stirred in his spot and lifted his head. He groaned as he tore his skin off of the side of the metal desk. The whole left side of his cheek was burned and meshed together in a weird formation. He turned his hearing aid back on and put it back into his ear. He moved his hand from my side, his eyes widening in surprise. "We're alive?" Clint touched the blood on accident and rubbed it between his fingers before he realized what it was. "Are you okay?"

"As good as I'm going to get," I cringed.

He lifted his head a bit to get a better view of the situation. "Your legs are crushed. That doesn't seem good to me."

"It doesn't matter," I quickly dismissed his comment and changed the subject. "We need a plan." I pressed my hands harder against my wound, waiting for my powers to heal my body. _I used so much power that it might not even work._

Clint watched me wearily. "There are sewers that lead to the outside of the apartment. We can go through there. It'll take a bit though. Think you can make it?"

I nodded tiredly and huffed. "I'll be fine. I'll use my powers so we can get out of this, but I'm going to be weaker than I am now. I used a lot to keep that desk from behind crushed. My legs won't heal as quickly, so you're going to have to carry me out."

"Alright. Fair enough." He hesitated for a second before asking, "You'll have my back though, right?"

"Of course," I exhaled, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out in agony. The pain only worsened and sprung through to my other side. My head stung and I shook off the dizziness. "I'll…I'll try. I don’t know how to use your bow, though."

"Remind me to teach you one day after we make it out of this alive," he replied with a small smile. He patted my arm and ripped a part of his shirt off. He used it as a tourniquet around my wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

I moved the desk over and let Barton have some room to stretch. The shield was still up and protected us from the debris. My cell phone rang and my hands fidgeted with my clothes until I could get to it. _How did this survive? Seriously? What the hell did the tech group at the school make this phone out of?_ I thought and answered it. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Steve questioned without missing a beat. His voice screeched through the phone in a panic. "I didn't see you two get out of there!"

I groaned, "Because we didn't…"

Barton snatched the phone away from me and got straight to the point, "We're stuck under the rubble. We'll find a way out. There are probably police everywhere, so we're going to head through the sewers."

I tried to squirm out from underneath the ruined blocks of cement, making some debris above us start to shift. I halted and sat still. Steve ordered through the phone, "Get out of there. I'll meet you somewhere in between."

Clint hung up and handed me the phone. I put it back in my pocket and listened to him talk. "Well, is it just me, or did our lives used to be simpler?"

"It used to be much simpler. Why? You missing that?"

He snorted in response, "I enjoy not having a target on my back." He glanced behind him to check his equipment and found some of the arrows broken in the quiver. Clint sighed, "Aw, arrows."

I rolled my eyes. We were under rubble of a building that just blew up and he cares about his arrows? "Clint, you can always get new arrows."

"They were hand crafted with precision," he replied.

"You ordered them from a catalog."

Barton snapped back playfully, "Shut up. Let's just get out of here."

The lower half of my body began to go numb slowly. There was only one thing left to do. "You have to help me cut off my legs."

He had to do a double take before looking at me in disbelief. "What? Are you insane?"

"It's the only way," I grit my teeth and handed him my knife, heated up to cauterize the wound as he used it. "I don't know how long the shield will last. Hurry."

Barton took the knife and hesitated as his hands hovered over the edge of the visible part of my legs. He glanced back at me, drawing in sharp breaths nervously. "I can't believe you're making me do this," he muttered under his breath. He sucked air into his lungs and focused. Clint stabbed the knife right into my bone, causing a scream to erupt from my throat. He shook and turned off his hearing aid, silencing the ability to hear my pain. He dug the knife deeper and snapped the bone in half. Blood spilled out everywhere, getting all over his hands as he cut my skin in quick slices. He cringed and tried not to look away, but it was difficult. When he was done with one leg, he moved onto the next without trying to get sick.

I began to panic as a shock climbed up my knees to my stomach. Shrieks escaped me, scratching at my throat like a razor. Tears flooded out of my eyes, covering my cheeks like a flood. I locked my jaw and strained to keep silent. My face turned red in my effort to silently cry and my lungs ached from the suppressed screams.

Clint finished the task and backed away, dropping the knife at my side. His hands convulsed as he averted his eyes, attempting to get a grasp on what he had just done. Barton's expression reflected the terror and a flash of regret sprang across his blue eyes. He whimpered to himself and grunted to compose himself. He turned his hearing aid back on and went to wipe his mouth, until he realized his hands were drenched in blood.

The shield flickered and my cries of agony died down, leaving only heavy breathing. My lungs felt damaged from my staggered breathing and all the stress I put on it earlier. I reached out for Clint to calm him down and he didn't notice at first until my fingers grazed his. His mouth twisted into a frown, his eyes flickering towards me. "Thank…you…" I whispered to him. The wounds were cauterized, so only little blood remained dripping out. My cells were busy regenerating and multiplying, so my head spun more and more.

"No…" He gulped and closed his eyes for a second. "No problem, Lilly."

"I'll…" I exhaled loudly for a second to gather my strength. "I'll get us out. Too…too weak to do the rest…"

Clint wiped the blood off on his hands as much as he could and nodded. "I'll take care of the rest. You've earned it." He fished out the broken arrows and tossed them aside, leaving only about eight left. He checked his bow to make sure it was still good while we waited for me to get us out.

 _Please don't fail him…_ I contemplated and focused my remaining strength on the metal around us. The metal carved out a path for us to take an eventually became a small tunnel. Cement and other debris hit the shield, threatening to shatter it at any moment. "Go…now…" A giant headache burned inside of my skull, as if my head was the frying pan and my brain rested in the fiery center.

Clint helped me latch my arms around his neck. He carried me with one hand while the other held his bow. He stumbled through the makeshift tunnel and a wave of fresh air hit us upon reaching the end. He stood there for a moment, taking in fresh air as if it were a magical thing that rarely happened. He held onto my bloody clothes and pulled me closer, making sure I wouldn't fall out of his grasp.

Gunshots rang through the air and Barton immediately dove for cover. He peeked out from his spot when he could and found the police shooting at us. He grunted and mumbled something under his breath before he reached backwards to get an arrow. He drew the arrow back against the bowstring and let go of his breath to gain steadiness. Clint let go and the arrow shot through the chaos and landed right in front of the cops. They were confused until it went off like a flash bang, blinding all of them. Barton made a run for it and dove into the sewers when he got the chance. The policemen were so far behind that they would never have guessed where we were.

"It's okay, Lilly. I'll bring you back safe and sound." Clint held onto me with both hands as my grip slipped. My eyes started to close and I rambled incoherently, causing him to worry even more. "Hey, Lil, stay awake. Please. I don't want to lose someone else." The blood loss made me light headed, and I could barely make sense of Barton's words. He continued speaking to keep me awake, "Have I ever told you I bought a farm? Thought Nat would like it one day when we…" Clint paused and shook his head as he made another turn. "I want to marry her one day. She always said she loved the country side. It reminded her a bit of her old home town. We haven't been there much, but she adores it." He searched for the right words to say while he made sure I was still conscious. "She seems to like the city more. I've been thinking about getting an apartment somewhere in New York, but maybe it's time for a different setting. You know?"

I nodded wearily before falling unconscious. My arms fell limp and he had to catch my body before it fell out of his grasp. He cursed profanities to himself and kept running, determined to get me some help back at the apartment. His feet splashed against the sewer water when he crossed the sewage and slammed hard against the pavement when he got out of that mess.

Five minutes later, Steve dashed down one of the corridors. He sprinted faster when he saw us covered in blood. Clint fell to his knees and had to stop to take a breather. Everything was so sore and tired. He wanted a nap.

"Oh my god…Lilly…" Steve declared breathlessly. "We have to get her to Banner! He'll know what to do," he yelled to Clint and started to run back to the apartment. Hawkeye followed close behind, straining his exhausted muscles. Steve got a better hold of me and whispered, "I should have never let you all go. Of course it was a set up…what was I thinking?" He blamed himself silently and his mind raced in a panic until we got back to the apartment.


	18. Chapter 18

Steve scrambled to the apartment door and hit it with his elbow. He struggled to keep his grasp on me, and adjusted one of his hands to my lower back. His blue eyes looked over at Clint worriedly. Barton usually talked to lighten the situation, but he was silent the whole way back. Steve knew his teammates weren't all right, but this seemed a lot more stressful than he imagined. It took a toll on both of them. All of us were soaked in blood, my legs were gone, and Barton seemed shaken up.

Peter opened the door in a rush and allowed the group to come inside. "Oh my god," he whispered as his eyes widened in shock. "She's going to be okay, right?"

Steve walked into the room and everyone's heads snapped towards him. Bruce stood up immediately and set his stuff down. "I can check up on her in the other room," he said and started to move. Steve nodded, glancing down at me as his breath hitched. Tony followed close behind Steve, and Peter caught up before they closed the door.

Clint slunk down into a chair and looked at his bloody hands. He turned them over and examined them, staring at them with broken eyes. "I can still hear her screams…" Natasha kneeled down next to him and looked him square in the eye. She set a hand on his knee and listened to him as he spoke, "Even when I couldn't hear her, I felt the vibrations going through her body. She just…kept screaming bloody murder…There was so much blood…"

Nat watched as he stared emptily at his shaking hands and knit her eyebrows together in worry. She scooted closer to him and declared quietly, "You had to do it. It was the only way to get out of there. You _saved_ her, Clint."

" _She_ saved both of us. I just…" he paused and closed his eyes. A trembling sigh snuck passed his lips and a lone tear escaped his eye. "You remember what happened in Budapest…?"

Natasha nodded, but realized he couldn't see. She tapped her finger on his knee. ".-- . / .-. . -- . -- -... . .-. / .. - / ...- . .-. -.-- / -.. .. ..-. ..-. . .-. . -. - .-.. -.-- .-.-.-" _We remember it differently._

"When we were fighting, you went off to create a diversion so I could get the remaining civilians off of the battlefield. There as a woman I came across. She was stuck underneath some debris, crying out for someone to help her." His face became emotionless and he struggled to keep himself together. "I kneeled down next to her and tried to move the stone, but she grabbed my arm and begged me to _kill_ her," Clint sharply inhaled and opened his eyes, sobbing quietly in front of Nat. He wiped his tears away, his lips quivering at the memory.

Natasha's eyes widened and she backed up a bit, trying to take in what he was saying. She knew the battle had messed him up, but not to this extent. Her eyebrows twitched in confusion. "Clint…"

Barton cut her off, "I killed her…" His voice trembled and he reached out to touch Nat's blonde hair. Clint twirled a strand between his fingers and his eyes flickered to hers. He sniffled and whimpered, "She said she couldn't do it herself. She was in so much pain…She wouldn't let me save her. I…I killed her to put her out of her misery…Lilly reminded me of her, and I guess I just…lost it."

Natasha pulled him towards her and embraced him. She ran her hands through his hair and let her fingers glide down his back like a calming dance. Clint wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder. "It's not your fault. You had to do what you had to do. She wanted you to do it," she whispered into his ear and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. He didn't reply and forced himself to stop crying.

The door down the hall opened. "Peter's not leaving her side," Tony reassured Steve as he pushed him out of the room. He closed the door behind him and set his hands on Steve's shoulders. Tony's brown eyes looked straight into his blue ones. "Lilly will be fine."

Steve dragged his hands down his face, then immediately cringed. Blood smeared all over his chin and hands. His eye twitched slightly and he muttered Peggy's name under his breath. He remembered holding her lifeless body in his arms, almost similar to when he carried me in a few moments ago.

Natasha snapped him out of his memory when she came over. "Clint's shaken up. He needs a few hours to recover before we do anything," she declared quietly and glanced over at him. Clint sat with his head in his hands, not caring about the blood anymore. Nat's green eyes flickered back to Steve and Tony. "What's our next move?"

Rogers blinked a few times as his brain racked to find a solution. There had to be something they could do. The politician death count rose every hour, but the team had no clue where Loki and Ira were, or the locations of the victims on the hit list. They couldn't attack if they didn't know where to go. "We need the people's trust. We can't keep going around the city trying to help if they're all trying to turn us into the authorities."

"So, what? We…" Tony trailed off and a spark lit up in his eye. He chewed on his lip for a second in thought and nodded. "Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, and I know exactly how to do it." He turned to Natasha and snapped his fingers. "Can you hack into the radio frequency and help us broadcast something from here?"

Natasha scoffed, "Can I? Do you doubt my skills, Stark?" She went to the laptop sitting on the table and opened it. She had taken it from the safe house just in case they needed it, which came in handy now. Nat typed in a few things and clicked here and there, getting to where she needed to be. "The broadcast signal will show up somewhere else, for safety purposes of course. If they decide to follow it, they'll end up on the opposite side of the city."

Tony leaned over and talked to Steve, "Romanoff can hack into anything and bypass firewalls without even triggering them. Pure genius." He crossed his arms over his black shirt and huffed, "I tried to get her to tell me how she does it, but she won't hand anything over. I don't like it when people won't share."

" _You_ don't share, Tony," Steve shot back and glanced over at him. A small smirk almost formed on his face, but disappeared. The muscle in his jaw flexed and he watched Natasha, waiting for her to finish.

She pushed her hair behind her ear and motioned him over. Her eyes were still glued to the screen as she moved the mouse to click a few things. "When you're ready, sit down and I'll push the button. Remember, don't let your anger get the best of you. I know you're upset, but we have to appeal to the people, not show them we're terrible like they think we are."

Tony pat Steve on the back and asked, "Ready to give a speech, Captain?"

Rogers sat down and nodded. "When am I not ready?" He joked around a bit and breathed for a second. He straightened his posture and glanced down at his hands, pushing away all of his anger for a short time. He nodded to Nat to push the button, and when it was on, he started his short speech. "Citizens of the public, I know I am the last person some of you want to hear from right now, but the Avengers are _not_ the enemy." Steve wrung his hands and paused for a second. "The bomb that hit Chicago was sent by the government. We fought for that city, but the government didn't have faith in us. It was wrong for us to leave when thousands would perish, and we live through the guilt every day. Now, Loki is killing dozens of people to gain control. We are here to fight him and help rebuild the government. That's what heroes do. We're going to fight for what is just and avenge the lives lost in Chicago. There is always a price to pay for freedom, and this is ours. We're going to take Loki down, even if it kills us. Everyone should evacuate DC and the surrounding area. We don't want to lose anymore lives in this catastrophe."

Steve hesitated and licked his lips. Flashes of the past crossed his mind and he glanced away. "We are now fighting against a tyrant. I know what that feels like. Loki will be so much more worse than the Third Reich if we don't stop him. So let us stop him, clear our names, and take back the United States of America's freedom." He leaned back in his chair and watched as Natasha unhooked from the radio frequency and closed the computer down.

"That was a great speech, Captain," Barton spoke up from his spot. He lifted his head and looked at Steve warily. His light blue eyes were bloodshot, but all the tears had melted into his skin. He coughed into his arm and tried to straighten himself out to make himself presentable.

Steve acknowledged him, "Thanks, Barton. I just hope it got through to the people." He stared at his hands once more, smearing the fresh blood on his fingers while in thought.

Natasha turned on the radio on my cell phone and waited to see what came through. People must have been talking about it. Maybe it would show some hope and faith return in the hearts of the citizens. Maybe it would make them despise the team more. It was a gamble, but it had to be worth it.

A caller called in to a radio station after the host gained control again. They answered the call, which became scratchy and grainy until it cleared up. "Ah, the Avengers think they can stop me?" Loki laughed deeply and continued, "They are foolish and nothing more than a bunch of _hoaxes_."

"Please, let me go," a man in the background begged.

Ira's voice rose threateningly, "Shut up!"

Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Clint leaned forward to listen better. They all exchanged worried looks simultaneously, knowing exactly what Loki had planned. It's not like they had time to stop it, though.

"Try to stop me and my reign. You'll never make it out of that battle alive," Loki scowled. "That pep talk of yours made me tear up…Actually, it didn't. It only fueled me to do what I'm about to do. Mr. Vice President, would you come closer to the microphone please?"

Crashing roared in the background and someone fell onto the floor with a thud. The Vice President cried out for help as he sniffled and tried to get a hold of himself. "Please don't kill me. I have a wife and kids…"

"You have a husband and a dog," Ira chimed in a low tone.

Loki wrapped up the small event by stabbing the man and killing him. His shrieks of agony echoed through the radio, and eventually died out. Loki laughed, and he spoke again, "You think you're all high and mighty now? 'Earth's mightiest heroes' as Mr. Stark once said? Good luck trying to prove yourselves. You're going to need it."

The phone call cut out and nothing but shocked silence covered the radio station.

 

"Barton…" I mumbled to myself and opened my eyes slowly. God…everything hurt. My headache felt like a blender was inside my head and nails were inside of it, screeching and tearing at the sides as it churned. The only good thing that was different was I could breathe normally without my abdomen hurting like hell. The wound from the pipe must have healed. A chill swept the room from the crack in the window. January weather, cold and snowy. _Why does it have to be so cold?_ "Clint?"

"Lilly?" Peter sat up in his chair and leaned towards me. He rubbed his brown eyes tiredly and set his hand on my arm gently. His hoarse voice was the only audible thing over the sound of my head pounding. "Clint's sleeping. We told him to get some rest after he calmed down."

"Is he okay? Is he hurt?" I tried to sit up, but Peter pushed me back down gently.

He half-smiled and shook his head. "No, he's fine." He sighed when he cracked his neck and looked out the window at the snow. Snowflakes rained down from the sky in a peaceful manner, undisturbed by wind and the sun. The cloudy overcast made the evening darker than it really was. Peter hesitated before speaking, "I watched the building go down…I thought I lost you and Clint in the destruction…"

"Yeah, well…" I groaned and tried to move my legs. The skin below my knees felt sensitive and pained me to move. When I glimpsed down, I realized I was still in the process of healing. The ends of my legs were nubs, and the skin around it was pale and slimy. The veins poked out of my skin, threatening to cut open at any horrible move. I cringed and continued, "I had to save Barton."

Peter nodded slowly and licked his chapped lips. A small smile touched the corners of his lips as he looked at me. "Natasha is really grateful for what you did back there."

"Really? Especially after the fight we had?" I asked in a confused state. We both said some pretty hurtful things, but I really wasn't expecting that. She'd never say it to my face that she was grateful, but she'd probably shoot a nod my way to indicate it. "I was afraid she'd be upset we even stayed in the building when it blew up."

"Not much you can do if you can't find a way out," he shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

I looked around the empty room and my eyebrows furrowed. The faded purple walls were chipped and flaking. Another chair sat in the corner of the room on the creaky wooden floor. The thick white curtains fluttered against the breeze coming through the cracks in the closed window. I grimaced from the pain and questioned, "Where's Steve?"

"He's out with Nat and Tony. They went on a search for Loki and Ira. They'll be back soon," Peter reassured me and stood up. He stretched and yawned. "I'm going to call Bruce in here. He needs to check up on you."

I huffed in reply and stared at the ceiling. _I have a bad feeling about this._


	19. Chapter 19

"Humanity, look how far you've fallen."

My attention snapped to the television quicker than any of my past reactions, giving me whiplash. Loki sat at the President of the United States' desk, his arms forming a triangle that led up to his lips. He grinned, the left corner of his lip twitching as his deep blue eyes looked directly at the audience. Ira sat on the corner of the desk, legs crossed as she leaned back nonchalantly. Her purple skin glistened in the lighting and her gray eyes staring at nothing in particular. President Obama kneeled on the ground, staring at the camera wide-eyed like a doe in headlights. His hands and legs were restrained behind him. Blood covered his white shirt and his blue tie hung loosely around his neck.

"You have drowned to the extent where you are all huddling and quivering together in the dark, like beasts. You should have surrendered to me when you had the chance. Yet, here you are, watching this occur through your Midgardian devices, feeling 'safe' in your chambers." Loki air quoted his words with his fingers and glared at the camera intensely. His words cut through my skin like daggers. "But here I am, in the palace of your so called 'leader', ready to demonstrate the power I could _storm_ upon this puny realm. Claim loyalty to me, and I will give all as a King should. Or, reject my proposal. Either way," he chuckled evilly, "It's only a matter of time before this world is burdened with my _glorious_ purpose." He stood up, stepping towards the camera slowly, dragging his fingers along the wooden desk. "Where are your heroes now?"

"Get Tony on the phone!" I yelled a little too loudly, waking Bruce up from his nap. Bruce looked around curiously, and squinted his eyes tiredly. He sat up and groaned. Barton clicked a few things on the laptop in his lap. Peter stepped into the room with a bowl of popcorn and threw some into his mouth. I scrambled to the phone quickly and dialed Tony's cell number.

It rang for a few seconds until he answered, "You have reached the hotline of the handsome billionaire Tony Stark. If you're calling just to yell at me, hang up right now."

"They're with the President right now!" I cried out in a rush. I turned to Clint, who was madly typing away at the laptop. "Can you interfere with the signal?"

Peter took another handful of popcorn and declared, "We have to get it off the air before they do something."

Clint shot us a pointed look. "What do you think I'm trying to do here?" He clicked on a few things and grunted when a whole new page of gibberish came up. "Patience is a virtue."

Loki continued on the screen, his tone suddenly lifting, "I come with glad tidings. I'm trying to make this dreadful hell worth living in. You worthless mortals make it seem like I'm the villain here, but I'm not, I'm quite the opposite."

The President turned his head to Loki and yelled, "You are the villain! You are trying to rule this world, but in reality, you can't…"

Loki's foot came in contact with the President's jaw, making Obama fall to the floor and spit out blood. The villain's words dripped from his mouth like poison from the fangs of a snake, "Shut up, you mewling quim! You aren't better than the rest of them. You heathing creatures take everything for granted. Someone was bound to take this place over ages ago; I couldn't miss my chance. I could destroy this planet in a heartbeat, but where's the fun in that? I'd rather have a front row seat to watch the world _burn_."

"There's no way we can make it to the White House before Loki kills him," Tony replied, his breath a little shaky. "The place we searched was a trap. We're stuck here."

Peter waved his hand in front of my face and almost jumped up and down. "Let me go! I can get there in time!"

"No! I won't let you go alone! He'll kill you too…" I panicked and pressed the phone harder against my ear. "I'll…Just meet us back here and we'll leave once we gear up." I hung up the phone, leaving Tony to the fight. I didn't take my eyes off of the television and tapped on Barton's leg. "Status report."

"Almost got it…" Clint mumbled to himself.

Ira dragged the President up by the arm and had him go back to kneeling. She drew her sword from the sheath on her waist and played with the handle, twirling it around a few times. Her companion's head tilted downwards, while his eyes menacingly focused on the audience. He continued his speech, "You all will kneel before Loki, of Asgard! It was my birthright to be King! I am more than just another stolen relic being kept away for years waiting to be of use!"

Obama grumbled under his breath, "This is madness…"

"Is it madness? _Is it_? IS IT?!" Loki got in his face, spit flying onto the President's cheek. Obama flinched and looked away, not facing Loki at all. The villain backed up and resumed his position of talking to the audience. "The Avengers can't help you now. Their blood will cover the White House's back yard, and then I can finally rule the world that I so rightly deserve. _This means war_."

"Barton, now!" I shouted, standing up from the couch in suspense.

"Thanks Obama," Ira stated as she lifted the sword. She swung the sword at his neck, and then the channel blacked out.

I sighed in relief. It wasn't much. The people knew he died. We just spared them from having to watch it happen. Barton exhaled and leaned back in his seat, threading his fingers through his hair stressfully. Peter left to the other room to get into his suit, taking the popcorn with him as he did. Bruce set his head against the cushion, staring off into space in thought. I plopped down on the couch and set my head in my hands.

 

The trio arrived back at the apartment within half an hour, tired, angry, bloody, and beaten. Natasha's jaw clenched tight and her intense stare sent a chill down my spine. She sat down on one of the chairs, contemplating our next move in silence. She stared straight ahead of her, but at nothing in particular. Tony didn't get out of his suit and charged it while he stood against the wall, motionless. The metal was scratched and torn in a few places. Steve pushed passed everyone and headed towards the only room in the apartment.

I followed Steve and closed the door a bit behind me. He dragged a hand down his face and set it against the window frame. His other hand balled up into a fist, shaking angrily. He peered out onto the city, the bright lights twinkled under the lit stars and the moonlit sky. I stepped closer to him and set my hand on his shoulder. The fear, the anger, the anticipation, it all welled up in my chest. I whispered, "We're not going to make it out alive, are we?"

He didn't move from his spot and fixated his stare on a tall building. His muscles tensed up underneath my touch. Steve exhaled and his lips formed a tight line before saying, "That was the game plan all along. Wasn't it?"

"Yeah," I sighed and let my hand fall to my side. I was fine with giving my life up for the greater good. That wasn't my problem. Yet…it almost felt quite selfish to feel this way. "I didn't think we'd end up like this. For this to be over so quickly before it began…"

He tore his gaze away from the window and furrowed his brow. He blinked a few times in confusion. "What do you mean?"

 _God this was stupid to even bring up. I should be more worried about the fight and the state of the world…not this._ I thought in frustration and my lips faltered to a frown. I glanced away and focused on nothing in particular. "Us, Steve. We've been dating for almost a year and we've been so focused on the mission that we haven't really…" I paused at a loss for words.

"What?"

My eyes flickered up to his blue ones and bit my lip. _Steve is so oblivious._ I rubbed the back of my neck and watched as he stared at me dumbfounded. Clueless was an adorable look on him. "We haven't had our first kiss. We haven't had another date. We haven't…lived as a couple. If we go out in a blaze of glory, we never will. I feel helpless. Scared. Nervous. _Weak_. Like I'll never get to do that with someone I really do like. And leaving Amelia without saying goodbye…How could I do that? We were planning on adopting her and to just leave her life like her father did, it's…"

Steve hugged me, hooking his arms under mine and pulling me close. I stopped talking and wrapped my arms around him, closing my eyes and taking in the feeling of his arms around me. He rested his head against mine and spoke softly, "We'll be okay. The end game is giving our lives for the cause. That doesn't mean this battle is the end. It might be another battle. A battle in the far distant future." He backed away a little bit and peered into my eyes. "We will have our firsts for everything. Don't even question it."

"Steve Rogers, I…" I trailed off and continued in thought. _Think I'm falling in love with you._ Without a second thought, I pulled Steve in to a kiss. He was thrown off for a few seconds, but he melted into it and kissed back. His lips were cracked a bit from dehydration, but it didn't matter to me. His kiss was so soft, so gentle that it almost seemed like he didn't know what he was doing for a second. For a first kiss with Steve Rogers, it wasn't as horrible as I thought it'd be.

Peter walked in, but immediately shielded his eyes from the scene. "God guys, get a room!" He cringed in disgust and accidentally backed away into the door frame.

"We have a room. You're in it," I remarked with a roll of my eyes. Steve chuckled lightly and glanced over at my cousin.

"Clint and Natasha thought it would be best to head out before the sun rises. Use the shadows to our advantage. If you two would stop eating each other's faces, we could move on with our lives and I can burn the image embedded in my mind," He opened his eyes warily and grimaced at the thought. He shook his head and shivered before leaving the room.

I turned back to Steve and backed away. The nervousness had alleviated, but all that was left were fear and anger, two emotions that always seemed to stick with me. "I hope I didn't freak you out. I just wanted something special to happen before we went to fight."

Steve blushed, color rushing to his cheeks like a waterfall, and sheepishly stated, "No, that was completely fine. You don't know how long I've been trying to muster up the courage to make the first move." He stood there for a moment, his eyes slowly fixating on me and formed a look of bewilderment. "You didn't finish what you were going to say."

 _What? No…I'm not going to tell him that! Not until I know for sure if I am falling in love with him…_ I contemplated and shook my head. When the time comes, I would. I crinkled my nose and scratched the back of my head. "I'll, uh…I'll save it for another time."

I began to turn around and walk away, but he grabbed my hand and tugged me back to him. Steve set his hand on my cheek gently and kissed me again, this time with more power and meaning. I blinked in surprise a few times and Steve smiled as he pulled away. He whispered, "One for the road."

A bubbly feeling formed in my stomach and I nodded, adding a grin of my own. Wasn't expecting _that_ to happen. "Come on, Romeo. The group is waiting on us." My hand held onto his as we made our way to the living room to meet up with the rest of the Avengers.


	20. Chapter 20

Loki's destruction ended up worse than I expected.

The White House wasn't so white anymore. Blood dyed the walls and dried underneath the sun. Smoke and ash settled on half of the gigantic building, right where the two helicopters crashed into it. The helicopter blades and deformed metal stuck out between the rubble, showing off how far Loki's destruction had come. No bodies were in sight, so he must have had them moved to a different location. Bullet holes impacted everything, revealing the failed efforts of the Secret Service. The sun hadn't fully risen yet, so the lights on the White House brightened up the disaster.

Loki and Ira sat on a blanket in the middle of the White House front lawn, lost in their own little world. Cups of tea were held up by a small metal tray, accompanied by a batch of sweets. Ira fed Loki a couple pieces of chocolate covered strawberries, but Loki didn't seem too happy. He brooded and his eyebrow twitched as if he were waiting for something to happen. Ira didn't think much of it and waited for him to feed her something, her gray eyes staring at him dreamily. She started up a conversation, thinking it would get him more involved, "Did you see the look on the President's face?"

He chuckled darkly, his mouth twisting up into a wicked smile, "Yes, the terror, the fear…It was exhilarating. The whole world watched as we tore apart America's political system." His blue eyes glimpsed at Ira, but quickly went back to staring off into space to think.

"You in position?" I questioned into the earpiece, looking through night vision binoculars at the U.S. Department of Treasury building on the other side of the White House. Hawkeye moved around next to me to try to get into a better position. He perched on the edge of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's roof and watched the gang below as they made their way to the duo of darkness, observing the environment.

Peter sunk low on the roof of the building, his arms draped over the edge lazily. He scoffed and waved his arms around for a second. "If you can't see the bright red and blue suit, there's something wrong with you, Lilly."

I almost replied until the group moved forward below. Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Bruce walked up to Ira and Loki hesitantly, watching their every move. Ira looked over their way and laughed, "Gaze upon of which the furry feline has brought to us!"

"What?" Peter snorted into comms.

Clint chuckled beside me, "Is she trying to be funny?"

"I'm gonna tell her she isn't funny," my cousin replied quickly. He cupped his hands around his mouth, ready to yell it out.

"Quiet down, you two," I shushed them and focused on the scene.

Loki rolled his eyes and almost wanted to glare at her in shame. He focused his glare on the Avengers and snarled, "Ah, the Avengers finally coming around? Took you longer than I expected. Are you here to kneel to your new king?"

"No one is going to kneel to you. This is a free country, not some fear driven, tyrannical place," Steve replied sternly. He held his shield closer to his body and stood ahead of the Avengers triumphantly. Bruce hung back awkwardly, not wanting to get into a fight. Ironman stood on Cap's right, while Black Widow glared at the villains on his left.

Ira got up and scoffed, "Shut up, Captain Small Ass." She crossed her arms and stood defensively. Loki grabbed his scepter from his side and used it to help him up, his eyes glowing a more intense blue than usual.

"Savage," Peter whispered, leading me to roll my eyes at his comment.

Natasha checked Steve out and made a face of approval. She curled her fingers into a fist, leaving her thumb and pinky sticking straight out, and brought her hand up to her chin. _Wrong._ She signed, giving her opinion on Ira's short handed insult. Steve shot a confused Are-You-Serious expression at her.

"She has a point there, Cap," Clint and I stated simultaneously with a smile. I took the binoculars away from my face and peered at Clint curiously. He pursed his lips and shrugged, turning his attention back to the scene below.

Peter looked at us and tilted his head, probably sending us a weird look through his mask. His body stiffened and he glanced around nervously. "Guys, my Spidey senses are tingling." Clint's attention flickered between the group and Peter. He glimpsed around our surroundings and moved to the other side of the roof to do a perimeter check. There was nothing suspicious around the area when we got here, but maybe that's what Loki wanted us to believe.

Loki took the bottom of the staff off of the ground and aimed it at the heroes in defense. His lips twitched up into a sly grin and he held his head up high. "You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into. There are more of us than you think."

Peter jumped around on the roof of his building, avoiding the metal whip-like weapons someone in front of him controlled. Barton fired an arrow at the villain, but the man merely caught it and threw it aside. Clint looked down at the group and noticed a bunch of people filing out of the White House. "We have company," Clint declared and nodded towards me. I created a pink portal next to him leading down to the rest of the group. He went through and I ran to join him before it closed, until something grabbed onto my leg.

I peeked down for a second, noticing a red substance wrapping around my leg. Before I could react, I fell onto the roof of the building and was dragged away from the portal. "Shit," I whispered in a panic and tried to grab onto something. My nails scratched against the roof and the metal pipes I grabbed onto, bending upwards and breaking away from my skin. Blood dyed my fingers red and left a trail on the roof as I was pulled.

A figure came into view and it wasn't a pleasant sight. Vein-like red and black substances covered it from head-to-toe, while some of it stuck out like stray hairs. Giant white splotches for eyes covered the top half of its face, and the bottom half led to a giant, menacing mouth full of sharp teeth. Its tongue slithered out, dropping saliva onto the ground. He pulled on the red substance attached to my leg like a rope from his wrists, similar to Spider-Man's web tech, except this was made from its body. It growled a guttural sound and used its pointed claws to pull me up from the ground.

I set one hand on the red gooey substance attached to his claw and heated it up, boiling the substance in seconds. It cried out and I caught it's other hand before it could punch me, but the goo attached to my skin and tried to cut me. I twisted my hand sharply and released the adamantium claws, jabbing the villain and making him let out a shrill cry. It launched me to the White House lawn where the others were, making me roll onto the grass pretty far away.

"I didn't think he was telling the truth…" Peter trailed off and glanced over at me when he met up with everyone. "Eddie told the truth…Venom gave birth to Carnage. He is one ugly looking alien."

I groaned and picked myself up. "Thanks, Peter, for telling me that now." _Come on. Step it up, Echo. This is for freedom._ I cracked my neck and looked at all of the villains standing behind Loki and Ira, the rising sun lighting up the situation. My heart fell when I saw what we were up against.

Carnage jumped down from the building and made the ground shake from the impact. He snarled and licked his teeth hungrily, fixing his stare on all of us. The creature covered in the strong black substance was Venom. Venom eyed Carnage and grit his teeth, showing his anger towards his son. That was odd in itself. I made a mental note of that for later. Juggernaut, in all of his glory and hardheaded anger, stood to the side. His metal helmet covered everything but his face, a small smirk playing on the ends of his lips as his eyes met mine. We fought a few times before, but it never finished due to other problems and people intervening. I flipped him off, showing I could still be somewhat playful in our stare off.

Natasha nodded towards the big, muscle built guy that had attacked Peter. She explained, "Omega Red, formerly known as Arkady Rossovich. I read his file when I worked with the KGB. I thought he was a ghost story, something to scare the children before they went to sleep at night. He's dangerous in more ways than one. His nickname is Red Death." The guy she talked about looked intimidating. His outfit was skin tight, red material with metal added onto places like his waist, shoulders, and knee caps. A red headband kept his stringy blond hair back out of his red, glowing eyes.

"I see you've met some of them already. I recruited them to secure my reign. This world will be ours for the taking," Loki hissed and waved to the other two unknowns. "Doctor Soul and Saturna are the newest editions."

Dr. Soul nodded in acknowledgement, his dark hair covering the side of his face, just out of the way of his gray eyes. His dark skin was burned and half of his face had melted completely off in some places, allowing his white skull to be visible. Dirty white lab coat, clothes burnt in some places, oozing green plasma staining his clothes, he certainly looked like a mad scientist.

Saturna's yellow eyes peered at the back of Loki's skull in thought, and eventually glanced at us. Her short, straight orange hair curved to the right against her pale skin. Two rings like Saturn's spun slowly and wrapped around her body diagonally against her brown outfit. When she took a hold of them, they detached and spun faster like a chainsaw. She tilted her head to try to intimidate us.

"I'm not going to fight Venom again. One go around was enough for one year," Peter announced and turned to Tony, "He hates heat, so you're a perfect match for him."

"I always love the ones who can't take a little heat," Tony commented and focused on his designated villain. The tension in the cold air was thick enough to be cut by a chainsaw. Everyone's breathing steadied, and all eyes locked on each other. No one wanted to make the first move, but fighting was inevitable. We all knew that. When the fight began, it was chaotic.

Juggernaut started a run towards me, but Bruce quickly got in the way. Banner transformed into the Hulk as Juggernaut pushed him, slowly stopping himself as he dug his heels into the soft earth. Juggernaut looked up at the Hulk and laughed, throwing a punch in his face. The Hulk screamed back; he grabbed him by the arm and swung him around until he let go, Juggernaut flying into the White House. Jugg shook himself out and made a war cry as he came into contact with the big guy again. They slammed each other into the ground and the White House, destroying anything they hit in the process.

Black Widow took out dual wield pistols and aimed straight at Dr. Soul. She fired one shot, two shots, three shots, four shots, until she felt satisfied with a few hits on her target, but it didn't effect him as much as she hoped. His hands glowed green for a short time and he forced one hand forward at her, shooting plasma at her. She dodged, rolled, and threw a grenade at him.

Dr. Soul covered the grenade in plasma, enveloping it and holding the detonation in place. He smirked and fired more ooze at her. Natasha shot a grappling hook from her large yellow bracelets, locking onto the villain and yanking him closer. She took advantage of her close range and used her bracelets to do what she called "Widow's Bite", firing electro-static energy blasts at her victim. It electrocuted Dr. Soul and he launched one more plasma bolt at her before he became incapacitated. It hit Nat in the shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain as it ate through the fabric. She took something out of her utility belt and injected it into her wound as the plasma ate at her skin like acid.

"Guess I'm up to bat," Tony observed and flew towards Venom. He used his missiles and beams against the creature, making him cry out in pain. Venom grabbed a hold of Tony and dug his claw into his armor, but couldn't get it off. Tony kicked and flew out of his grasp, setting himself free. Venom chased after him and took a few rays to the chest, but quickly recovered and pounced on Tony. He bit into his metal armor, making the material sizzle from the poison the creature released.

Ironman yelled something at Jarvis and he grabbed onto Venom's arm. Ray beams exerted itself out of his hands, melting the alien's skin, revealing human skin underneath. "What the hell? There's a person inside this thing?"

Peter answered over comms, "Yeah. I'll explain later. Too busy not dying right now." He shot webbing at Omega Red and tried to tie the metal tentacle weapons forming from his wrists. Omega Red kicked him in the stomach and hit Peter across the face with metal. Peter fell, but quickly swept himself off his feet and threw webs at the villain's face. It distracted Omega enough for Peter to run up and throw him down to the ground. He retreated before Omega could get up, using his hit-and-run tactic he told me all about.

Spider-Man didn't have any objects nearby to use, so it was all left up to him to fight. He looked for a weakness, but couldn't see one. Omega got up, growling to himself and trying to grab Peter with the tentacles. Peter jumped and slid right out of reach, laughing as he did, "Is that all you got?"

"You shouldn't taunt someone more powerful than you, boy," Omega Red grunted and went in for close combat. One punch after the other, Peter dodged or took the hit with strength. Peter retaliated with kicks and punches of his own, sometimes getting lucky and threw the villain off balance. Omega chuckled darkly and hooked one of the tentacles around Peter's left arm, tearing it off in one swift move.

Peter screeched and backed up before Omega Red could do more, his cry of agony echoing through comms. Blood spewed out from his wound, blending in with the red fabric of his outfit. He covered the wound and sharply gasped in pain. He lost himself in his newfound agony and forgot about the fight.


	21. Chapter 21

Peter's cries echoed through comms and my attention snapped towards him. He caressed his wound and fell into a state of panic. I whipped around to see Hawkeye shooting arrows at Ira from a distance. Ira tried to deflect the arrows with her sword, but she only managed to hit one of them. Loki sat back and enjoyed the show, watching as chaos rained upon us. I turned back to my cousin and started running towards him, yelling into my earpiece as I did, "Barton, cover me!"

"On it," Clint replied and watched my surroundings carefully. He drew back the arrow, held it there for a second, exhaled and released it. The exploding arrow flew and impacted against Carnage's skin, causing a chunk of him to blow up. Carnage yelled out  and ran towards Hawkeye as his arm healed. Hulk tackled him down before he could reach his teammate and threw him across the battlefield. Juggernaut rammed into Hulk, launching him into the walls of the White House. A part of the building collapsed onto the big guy, burying him in debris.

I dove passed Dr. Soul, who was still recovering from the Widow's Bite, and stopped right before Omega Red. He reached to grab Peter and I shot my hands out, grabbing a hold of his metal arm weapons with my powers. He fought back against the force, grunting as he tried to set himself free. I tied him up by his own weapon-like whips and threw him onto Dr. Soul to trap them both.

My hazel eyes flickered back to Peter, who had a meltdown in the middle of the battlefield. He stumbled and fell to his knees, ripping his mask off and clutching it in his hand to try to forget the immense pain breaking through his shoulder. His brown eyes focused on his bloody wound as sounds of agony left his lips. I grabbed the sleeve from his torn off arm and threw the arm aside in slight disgust. My hands quickly put pressure on his wound, but backed up as he sharply gasped. "Don't worry, it'll be okay," I shushed him in reassurance and grimaced. He cried out with all the strength he had and it was unsettling to hear. Peter slowly went into shock. "We need to get Peter to a hospital. He's bleeding out!"

"I'll take him," Tony offered and flew out of his fight to pick him up. "Come here, itsy-bitsy spider," Ironman picked Spider-Man up off the ground and propelled into the sky. Carnage latched onto Tony's foot and held him down. Tony kicked and tried to shove the fire from his free boot against Carnage's face, but it didn't work.

Fire sparked between my fingers and licked its way up to my wrists, setting my whole hand ablaze. "Hey, ugly!" I shot a fire blast at the creature and got its attention. He sent Tony and Peter flying in the other direction, but Tony quickly regained control and launched off to the nearest hospital. Carnage licked its teeth and his arm formed into an axe, while his feet materialized into two spikes.

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned and cracked my neck. Carnage ran straight towards me, and I anticipated his movements. He sharply turned his arm to swing at me and missed by a hair. I dodged and heated my hands up hotter and hotter, getting myself ready to make a move. Carnage kicked his legs, one in a swish downwards and the other to my side. His foot hit my side and I cried out for a split second before launching fire at his chest. The heat ate at his skin, but it wasn't enough to get him to back off.

I threw my fist at him to get a closer advantage, but he quickly smacked my hand away and scratched my skin. Blood trickled down the rake marks and he became more hostile when he smelled the iron in the air. A twisted smile set upon its mouth as he began to frenzy. Kick to the shin, uppercut to what I thought was a jaw, ice to the chest, nothing worked. He blocked the moves with super fast reflexes and countered with his own. Slash in the face, his claws scraping against my soft skin. Blood flew into the air as he dove in for his next move, his sharp foot aiming for my leg. I jumped up and brought both fists down onto his shoulder. His red and black gooey skin froze in place, leaving the top of his arm useless. That was the only hit I could land on him, for he rebounded and broke the ice off before I could do anything. Any attempt to outsmart him failed.

A special arrow flew straight towards Carnage's back, but he whipped his arm around and caught it without turning his head. My body tensed up and a frown settled on my lips. _How did he know that was coming for him? I didn't even know about it until the last second._ I contemplated and lost my focus. I shook the thoughts away and tried to put my mind back into the fight.

Carnage threw the arrow back rapidly, letting it explode next to Barton. He fell down from the blast and took a second to recover. Venom pounced on Hawkeye and scratched at his body, attempting to tear it up in a matter of seconds. His slick black claws reached up into the air for more damage and forced his hand down, his fingers jabbing into Clint's side. His scream screeched through communications into our ears.

I winced and threw out a pink portal in front of me. I dove through a blue portal next to Venom and launched fire at him. Flames licked up my arms and immense heat radiated off of my body. I jumped on his back, setting my flaming hands against his head. The creature shrieked and frantically tried to get me off of him. "Barton, go!" I yelled and dug my heated hand into Venom's shoulder. The black goo took hold of my hand and sucked it down. Panic built up in my system as the slimy substance climbed up my wrist. My skin turned into diamond and I punched Venom in the face. He immediately let go and I flew backwards. He rebounded, getting close enough to drag his claws against my diamond skin, causing a horrible screech to sound off.

I wailed, kicking him down and regaining my footing. I glanced around to see Steve shielding himself against Saturna's attacks. He crouched down behind his shield and grunted as he threw it at her. The rings she used as weapons clanged against the metal shield, scratching it before it flew back. Steve snatched his shield and launched it again, but this time it didn't return to him. He ran to grab it, and quickly rolled to the side when Saturna came close and tried to hit him.

Both rings swirled rapidly in her hands as she watched Captain America carefully with her yellow eyes. She pursed her lips and dove in for an attack. Saturna's rings clashed against the shield, allowing Steve to go in for a punch to the face and a kick to the abdomen. She stumbled backwards and scowled, "I'm going to kill you."

"You haven't been doing a great job so far," Steve's face stayed emotionless and focused. His blue eyes anticipated her movements and waited for her to strike. He didn't even break a sweat when she came at him in an attempt to cut him in half. He dove to the side and aimed the shield at her legs, causing her to scream and fall to one knee. Saturna made the rings move faster and chucked them at the shield. Cap's shield snapped into two pieces and he snatched the other piece before it hit the ground.

Steve's face fell.

Saturna aimed to hit his arm, but Steve guarded himself. He used one piece to hit her in the back of the neck and knocked one of the rings out of her hand. He had the advantage, but not for long. Saturna threw the disk at his feet, clipping his foot and making him cringe. Steve used the jagged side of the broken shield to clip her in the jaw, pushing her away from him.

Barton had already ran towards Natasha to aid her in battle, even though she didn't need it. He tried to create a tourniquet for his wound for the time being, blood still sinking out from it. He wouldn't leave the battlefield without Natasha, so he'd die fighting to make sure she was safe. He reached for an arrow in the quiver, but he came up empty. Clint took a deep breath and unlatched the bow, turning it into two stun batons. He waited until Dr. Soul ran out of plasma to throw and for Nat to give him the signal.

Black Widow threw a grenade over her head and let it injure Dr. Soul. The villain was thrown back and had to take a second to recover. Romanoff signaled to Barton to attack, and they both moved in. Natasha pulled out an automatic submachine gun from its holster and shot a whole clip out on Dr. Soul. He rolled to the side and attempted to jump away, but a few bullets hit him in the side and waist. He shrieked and defended himself against the next attack. Hawkeye came at him with stun batons, shocking him once and failing the next time. Natasha surged forward with a combat knife and nicked him on his chest. She swung in sync with Clint, almost like it was a dance.

Dr. Soul grabbed a hold of Barton's arm and held on tightly. Barton tried to move away or shock him to the point of him letting go, but he wouldn't. Natasha stabbed him and removed the knife, but the wound healed itself. Both heroes appeared confused until Barton started to feel weak. Dr. Soul seemed to be harvesting Hawkeye's soul for his own gain of healing and more power. The villain aimed his free hand at Black Widow and struck her in the leg with plasma. She gasped and fell to the ground, her hands frantically searching for something in her utility belt. Clint managed to get the villain's hand off of him, but he stumbled backwards in a daze from blood loss and disorientation. Dr. Soul smiled mischievously at his upper hand in the situation.

A red and black substance latched onto my waist and pulled me away from Venom. Carnage yanked me back to him using his self-made webbing, while Venom growled at both of us and made his way over slowly. I tried to force the webbing off, but each time I did, the webbing tightened around my waist. The material was too strong. He pulled me to him and made sure I wouldn't be able to move. I kicked and tried to wound him, but nothing worked. An appendage grew out of his stomach in the shape of a sharp sword. Worry formed in my stomach as I took out my pistol and shot bullets into the bottom of his jaw. The bullets fell to the ground, crushed and broken, while his jaw remained perfectly in tact. Carnage laughed in a deep growl, sending chills down my spine. Venom approached on my left, getting his claws ready to strike before Carnage made a move.

Five Air Force F-15 Eagle fighter jets flew overhead, a excruciatingly loud noise booming as they passed by. Carnage cringed and backed away, letting go of his hold on me to hold his ears as he screeched. I furrowed my brow and took a mental note. Replicating that much sound from ground zero would be difficult, but it did bother him. "Please tell me they aren't here to nuke another city," I commented and tried to think of a way to wound Carnage.

"No, they're most likely here for air assistance," Clint responded and watched as Venom wailed in response to the loud noise. He and Natasha helped each other get off the battlefield, since both of their injuries were major. He built on his last sentence, "Those ships weren't made to carry nukes."

I nodded in acknowledgement as a reflex, even though he wasn't looking at me. It was good that another city wasn't going to be wiped off the map. Even though it would help us kill the villains, millions of more civilians would perish. There would be no way for a nuke to be sent out if Loki and Ira slaughtered most of the leading government. Were there even enough high ranking government officials alive to salvage what had been destroyed?

Steve cried out in pain as he clutched his left shoulder. My attention snapped over to him and I broke out into a sprint. Dr. Soul's plasma hit his shield, but Saturna's rings clipped him in the shoulder, ripping some skin and probably muscle apart. He was getting double teamed and I stepped in to even out the numbers. My fist came in contact with Dr. Soul's chest and I swept my foot underneath him. All of my muscles ached, but a sudden burst of adrenaline shot through my system. "You know, Captain, our numbers are running a little low," I reported to him with a small hint of worry in my voice.

"What are you suggesting, Echo?" Cap questioned. He kicked Saturna and aimed the shield at her throat, but she dodged him and rolled away.

 _Using the superhero name people gave me? That's new, even for you Steve._ I thought and stomped my foot onto Dr. Soul's leg, snapping it in two. He wailed and I responded, "I think we need to pull back and get reinforcements. There's only three of us out in the field. The rest are wounded and Tony hasn't come back yet." I looked over to where Hulk was to see how he was doing.

Omega Red and Juggernaut fought the Hulk simultaneously. Omega used his right whip weapon to grab a hold of Hulk's leg and drop him to the ground. Hulk struggled for a second and Juggernaut took advantage of it. He dropped down and dug his elbow into the Hulk's chest after falling onto him. Jugg punched Hulk in the bottom of his jaw, but it only angered the big guy more. Omega Red twisted Hulk's ankle and used his left whip-like tentacle to hold Hulk down underneath Jugg's weight.

"Where are we going to get reinforcements?" Steve asked and backed away from Saturna. They eyed each other menacingly and held back from making another move.

I pulled Omega Red away from Hulk using my powers and launched him to where Loki and Ira sat. They enjoyed the show, watching all of us fight and squirm under pressure. "Hulk, we have to leave," I told him and he reluctantly nodded.

Hulk punched Juggernaut and threw him off into the White House, crushing more of the building under his weight. Venom and Carnage stayed off to the side, talking and fighting amongst themselves about what prey was supposed to be theirs within the hero group. Omega Red picked himself up and watched the scene close up with Loki and Ira. Saturna and Dr. Soul stayed in offense mode, but held their position.

Another villain hung by the White House, observing everyone in their critical conditions. He wore a ripped black coat and three long, bony fingers adorned each hand. He seemed strongly built, but he wasn't from this world. The villain's face had black and white swirls and moved slowly in a circular motion, like a toy magicians used to put people into a trance. He faced our direction, but didn't make a move to stop us.

I shook my head and tried to help Steve off of the battlefield. He put his hand out, signaling he didn't want help and limped towards where Nat and Clint had headed earlier. Hulk ran off ahead of us, probably in an attempt to catch up to the other two team members. I glanced over at wounded Steve and replied to what he said earlier, "I know a few people that would be willing to help."


End file.
